The Odd Victorian Mansion
by Neptunefox
Summary: I have been writing this story for a while now, before the 2nd installment of Luigi's Mansion, so keep that in mind. Anyway, Luigi returns back to E. Gadd's after being told that his nemesis King Boo has returned and of course he is the only man for the job. King Boo is not playing nice this time though and making the trip very interesting Luigi. Mild language toward the end
1. Back to the Mansion

**Chapter 1- Back to the Mansion**

Luigi ventures back to Boo Woods, more specifically to E. Gadd's laboratory. His trek is the result of receiving an urgent message from the short professor about the return of Luigi's nemesis, King Boo. The thought of King Boo makes a shiver go down Luigi's spine, but if the pesky phantom is up to his old tricks he knows he has to stop him; he is too dangerous to let run loose. After what seems like an eternity, the green clad plumber finds the tiny wooden shack, which reminds him of an old day outhouse, which camouflages the manhole leading down to the professor's lab. Luigi knocks loudly on the door, "Gadd? Gadd are you there?" A moment later, he hears a hiss and a squeak; the lid of the manhole opening, then the wooden door opens with the elderly professor looking up at him.

"Ah Luigi my boy, glad to see you," E. Gadd greets.

"Good to see you too Professor, wish it was under better circumstances though," Luigi replies.

"Ah I see you got my message then," the professor notes as he ushers Luigi inside the shack then into the manhole. "Just in time my boy, the sun sets in about an hour; that should be enough time to brief you and maybe get some practice in before you go." The little man with coke bottle glasses leads the green clad plumber to the 'command center'.

In the front of the room numerous television screens which make up a larger, slightly curved screen that wraps around a single barstool. On the opposite side, a large steel table stands in front of a wall of shelves, holding various ingredients, liquids, and instruments need by the good professor. Along the wall next to the door that the pair just entered through, is a door and a couple of machines that Gadd uses; what their functions are the plumber is unsure. Finally, on the opposite side of the room there are two doors.

"Wow Professor, it looks like you upgraded a bit," Luigi observes.

"Yes I did," Gadd confirms. "Got more space for all my work and some new gadgets to play with," the man in lab coat grins, like a boy on Christmas morning. "One of which is important to us tonight," Gadd informs as he leads Luigi over to the far corner of the room where a pipe sprouts out of the ground. "I am sure you are familiar with these my boy. King Boo's new mansion is deep, deep, I mean center of the Earth here, deep in the heart of the Forever Forest, so I took it upon myself to take its coordinates and have a pipe installed by a feller named uh, oh shoot I don't remember, but anyways its not important. This pipe means that all you have to do to get to and fro from the mansion is drop down the pipe."

"Well that should make things easier," the plumber notes. "I guess."

"Don't get cold feet on me now lad, you're the only one I can trust with the Poltergust 5000!" The short elderly man scuttle over to a cabinet an pulls out the red vacuum-like, ghost capturing device and drags it over to the plumber.

"5000? What happened to the 3000," Luigi asks confused. "It looks the same," he notes as he slings it onto his back.

"I have made it more powerful and more technologically advanced, along with your flashlight," E. Gadd informs as he hands the plumber a simple looking, silver flashlight, with two buttons. "It now has a strobe feature!"

"Gadd, I'm not going to a disco; why would I need that," the younger Mario Brother asks doubtingly.

"Disco? My boy there is no need to be contemptuous! It has a practical purpose," the professor defends. "Step over here to the and look at what I have found," the short man leads Luigi over to the wall of monitors and brings up video clips of ghosts. "The ghosts in this new mansion are stronger. A couple of them came around me when I went to investigate the house and I was able to scare most of them away with the flashlight; however, there are quite a few stubborn little nippers that were not affected at all. I was able to run outside and some lightning had flashed brilliantly in the yard; scared the living daylights out of me, but not as much as those phantoms were. As soon as it struck, they high-tailed it back inside, hence the new flashlight feature and many others to the Poltergust. I figure that you are going to need all these modifications; King Boo is out for vengeance my boy, so there is no doubt he brought his best apparitions or shall we say, 'A' game," Gadd jokes.

"Yeah funny," Luigi mummers, as he fears the journey ahead.

"Oui, it is a joke lad, lighten up! You have beaten him before; you surely can do it again," Gadd encourages.

"I know, I just I don't know. I feel like this might be a little out of my league, just nerves I guess. Mario is better at this than I am," the younger Mario Brother wavers.

"I told you that King Boo wants you! You foiled his plot last time, not your brother," the little man reminds.

"I know that. I am just saying that he is better at this sort of thing. Besides, I'm sure that King Boo would love another crack at Mario. I mean he has foiled his plots before too…"

"Your brother is impatient and headstrong as was shown last time," Gadd scolds. "He just charges in and disregards any warnings! There is a difference between courage and bravery. Courage is having the guts to face the unknown and tackle it by leaning about it; bravery is having guts to face danger, but stupidly running in without thinking. Your brother is the latter; running in and not listening to me," the little elderly man grumbles.

"You can always trust Mario with this sort of job," Luigi defends. "Sure sometimes his tactics are a little rash, but they usually work. He's not the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom for nothing you know."

"Well I prefer cautious and calculation over brash and bold for this sort of thing," Gadd firmly states.

"I would have to agree with you there," the young plumber agrees.

"So does that mean you are ready to take a whirl in my improved practice room, my boy," the elderly professor asks optimistically.

"Sure just so I can get back into the groove of things again," the green clad plumber agrees then steps through the door closest to the pipe.

The practice room has changed significantly since Luigi was here last. Instead of the barren dirt floor with six portals sticking out of the ground, now the floor is tile and there are portals on all sides of the room. Professor E. Gadd also has installed a holographic environment simulator, so that the plumber can be challenged in various rooms with different obstacles. The types of ghosts vary now too, which allows Luigi a better practice session.

After a half hour of practice, Luigi comes out of the practice room feeling more confident than ever. _I forgot how irritating those green and blue ghosts can be to catch, but no big deal,_ the plumber thinks as he steps up to the professor.

"Looks like you're not too rusty," E. Gadd observes.

"Nah, its like riding a bicycle; don't really forget how to do it," Luigi notes.

"Well that's good lad because I figure you'll need to be on your toes," the short elderly man notes as he heads back to his tall chair in front of his wall of monitors. "Wait before you go, don't forget to take this with you," the professor hands the plumber a small dual screened device.

"What's this?"

"The Dual Scream," Gadd replies; "I upgraded the GameBoy Horror as well."

"Ah," Luigi acknowledges.

"Well my boy, are you ready to face the new mansion?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Luigi replies hesitantly.

"Good, just hop into the pipe over there to get started," E. Gadd informs as he motions to the pipe. The professor watches as the plumber takes a deep breath then enters the pipe and disappears. "Good luck my boy, may the heavens watch over you."

The pipe leads him to the heart of the Forever Forest, a perpetually dark forest where the trees creak and the wind carries voices throughout the land. The howling chill of the wind causes a shiver to creep up Luigi's spine. _Why can't these mansions ever be in a nice open field with the sun shining overhead,_ the younger Mario Brother ponders as he jumps off the pipe and onto the small dirt path worn into the forest floor.

He only has to walk about fifty yards down the path to find the black, wrought iron front gate of the mansion. Behind the fence, the mansion looms. It looks similar to the first mansion, as it is made with the dark gray wood and has the dark green shutters and roof, but this mansion is much larger with a Victorian style of architecture. _Great, it's going to take a lot longer than the other one,_ Luigi predicts with a sigh. "Well here we go," the plumber notes trying to get himself started. The gate opens with a long, slow squeak like a groan of pain. He tries to quell the quaking of his legs as he walks up the dirt path through the front yard to the door. He stops at the door, takes out his flashlight and turns it on before hesitantly reaching for the doorknob. His hand clasps the handle and pulls, but the door does not budge. "Huh?" He pulls on the door again and it does not move. "What the?" Luigi puts his flashlight away and pulls with both hands on the door with no success. Suddenly King Boo's cheeky chuckling fills Luigi's ears and the plumber falls back in surprise.

"You didn't think I would make it that easy did you," the manifested monarch quips. "Last time it was too easy for you, this time you are going to have to work for it!" After a couple seconds of snide chuckling, King Boo's voice fades away and Luigi relaxes as he feels the phantom's presence disappear.

"This is going to be a long night," Luigi sighs as he gets back up onto his feet and dusts himself off. The Dual Scream vibrates in his pocket and he pulls it out to answer.

"Are you okay lad," E. Gadd asks concerned.

"Yeah I'm okay," the younger Mario Brother replies; "but it looks like King Boo is set on making this a fun night."

"I noticed," the ghost specialist informs. "How are you going to get in?"

"I guess I'm going to have to find an open window or a key," the green clad plumber muses.

"Okay well good luck and be careful," the professor advises.

"I will, talk to you later," Luigi replies then ends the call and heads back down the steps to take a look at the front of the mansion. _Well no windows are open in the front, maybe on the side?_ The plumber investigates the west side, but finds himself blocked by a thick row of hedges and another fence halfway to the back. Stumped, he heads to the east side and finds another building alongside the mansion. "Hmm, now that's interesting; I wonder what's in there." The younger Mario Brother walks further to the east and finds a small window cracked open. "Ah ha!" He jumps and grabs the window ledge then tries to squeeze through the opening, but ends up getting stuck as the red machine on his back knocks up against the window frame. "Oh man," he groans as he shimmies back out of the opening and dangles from the window ledge with one hand. _This is not going to be easy,_ he thinks as he attempts to remove the Poltergust 5000 from his back while keeping a hold of the ledge. _Almost got it,_ then the machine falls to the ground below. "Dang it," Luigi curses and drops down, landing next to the machine. _How am I going to get it in there? Maybe…._ A smirk grows on his face as he picks up the machine and jump again; this time instead of grabbing the ledge he throws the machine through the window. The Poltergust lands with a loud clatter on the other side. "Playing all that basketball with Mario finally pays off," he grins then he launches himself back up and through the window. He lands harshly inside the building, face first with a whine of pain. _Guess I need to work on my landing,_ Luigi groans as he gets to his feet. Suddenly the Dual Scream alarms once again, E. Gadd is calling. "Hello?"

"What in Sam Hills are you doing lad," the professor exclaims vexed.

"What do you mean?"

"I just received two crash alarms from the Poltergust 5000," Gadd informs.

"It gives you alarms about its condition? Wow, I didn't think it was that technologically advanced," Luigi notes.

"Yes it is and it does, so be careful with it! It is a delicate and important piece of equipment!"

"Sorry," Luigi apologizes as he rubs the back of his head guiltily.

"It's okay. Good luck," the professor says once more before cutting off transmission.

"Oops," Luigi states sheepishly then picks up the Poltergust 5000, straps it to his back, and pulls out his flashlight. "Lets see what's going on here," he scans the room with the small circle of light to find tool hanging on the wall and an old vehicle parked in the middle of the room. _It's a garage!_ Suddenly he hears a semi-silent, hungry chortle, a familiar sound; quickly he turns off his flashlight and waits. The snickering grows louder and the air becomes colder. As soon as he can feel the phantom right behind him, he whips around and turns of his flashlight. The light paralyzes the orange ghost as it shines upon its heart and Luigi pulls out the hose to the Poltergust and sucks the phantom inside. "Phew, like I said its like riding a bike," the plumber states to no one. He looks around the garage with aid of the flashlight to find an old work bench, some gardening tools leaning against a wall, and a turned over wheelbarrow. Then he turns his attention to the old car he spotted earlier and identifies it as a Ford Model T. "Whoa, this is amazing," Luigi exclaims as he circles the car. It is great condition, a little dusty, but still looks fantastic. It reminds him of the Daytripper kart that Peach and Daisy drive during the Mario Kart races, but this one has a top and is dark green. _Just how I like it,_ the younger Mario Brother grins as he mentally drools over the car. "Hmm, I wonder…" he steps up to the driver's door and pulls on the hand; the door pops open. "Sweet!" He slides into the driver's seat and shuts the door behind him. Using his flashlight, he examines the dashboard and notices that the keys are still in the steering column. Curiosity gets the best of him and he turns the key; the engine rumbles, but nothing spews to life. "Well that's not surprising," Luigi notes aloud. "I mean this thing has probably been sitting here since the beginning of the last century." He continues to look around, focusing his gaze on the confusing gearshift configuration when suddenly a female voice interrupts his investigation.

"Off to the mansion James, we must not keep Edward waiting," the woman commands.

Luigi turns pale as he jumps in his seat, startled. Cautiously, he glances at the rear view mirror to see who is in the car with him. His eyes widen as he realizes it's a ghost, not a minion of King Boo, but an actual ghost like Melody and Neville from the previous mansion. She has dark auburn hair pulled up into a French braid; her hat sits upon her lap, which is the same color as her short trench coat, ivory. She looks to be around twenty-five to thirty; that is all Luigi can tell. "Ma'am I'm not James," he stammers, watching the mirror.

"Of course you are silly man, stop teasing me," the woman replies. "We must hurry, you know how Edward will get," the phantom continues; "Amelia where have you been? It is quarter past noon, you are late for lunch with father and I," she continues oblivious to what Luigi said.

"Okay…" the plumber replies, confused. He grabs his flashlight then quickly turns around and shines it upon the ghost to reveal its heart, but the flashlight has no effect. "What the?" Luigi's mouth drops in shock then the quickly turns back around in his seat. _What kind of ghost doesn't have a heart to focus on and capture?_

Suddenly Amelia sneezes violently, setting Luigi more on edge. "James could you hand me a handkerchief from the glove compartment," she asks sweetly.

Luigi warily complies, slowly reaching over and unhinging the door. He is surprised when he opens the glove box to find, not a handkerchief, but a key. _Uh interesting,_ he turns back to Amelia, but she is gone and the lights in the garage flicker on. "This is definitely going to be an odd, long night," he observes as he grabs the key and steps out of the car.

After leaving the garage, Luigi heads back to the front door. To his relief, the key fits the lock of the door and he able to step inside. The door leads to the foyer which looks very similar to the one in the previous mansion, but larger. There are two staircases on either side of the room, which leads up to the second floor. Luigi notices something odd about the banister on the left side, like something is perched upon it. He shines his flashlight on the edge of the banister and the color in his face drains. His hand shakes as he picks up the unmistakable red cap belonging to his brother. Lighting flashes and thunder cracks causing the younger Mario Brother to jump back, which causes him to notice another message written for him on the wall above the right staircase. The message reads, "I have somebody you care for. Come and get them if you can!" Bold, dripping red letters comprise the message and the scent of iron is strong in the air, no doubly written with blood.

Luigi gulps then looks back down at Mario's cap. "Mario," he cries out with a quiver in his voice. "Mario?" Without further delay, Luigi starts searching the foyer high and low for a clue or a key, eager to head deeper into the mansion and find his brother. He scours the room; looking under and in small tables by the door and underneath the banner, vacuums the light fixtures, looks in the coat closet next to the front door, then he turns his attention to the floor rug. Hastily he grabs one end and throws it to the side, revealing a trap door in the middle of the floor. "Getting sneaky on me King Boo, but not sneaky enough," Luigi proclaims proudly as he opens the door. As soon as the seal is broken, Boos and rats come spewing out of the opening like water out of a geyser. "Aaaah," Luigi screams in surprise and disgust as the rats crawl all over his shoes. He frantically kicks them off and away until all the creatures have disappeared. "Tricky son of a," Luigi sighs. "I can't believe I fell for that trick again," he groans as he buries his face in his hand remembering the switch behind the poster in the previous mansion having the same effect. Hanging his head in shame, he removes his hands to see a rat still at his feet. He sharply inhales as panic starts to return then he holds back as he notices this rat is different from the others. He swoops down and picks the rodent up; it's an albino and its not feral like the swarm was. "Hi little guy," the younger Mario Brother greets as he pets the rat on the head with two fingers. "Aw you're cute…huh?" He stops in mid-sentence as he notices what looks like a key floating inside the rodent. The rat squeaks happily fades away from existence, leaving a key in Luigi's hand. "Ghost rats? Now this is just getting ridiculous." He shakes his head and takes the key upstairs; he gulps as he passes under the blood note on the wall. He tries the key in the door and fortunately it works, giving him access.

The second story door leads him to the common hall; nothing too special, just a hallway with doors off to each side and a t-intersection at the end of it. He systematically checks each door, seeing which one would open. He finds one unlocked on the left side just before the intersection, it's the bathroom. _Well makes sense, if there is one room to keep unlocked,_ he muses closing the door behind him. After the door closes, a shiver runs down his spine as the room temperature drops. In the dusty vanity mirrors he can see a puff of smoke form and dissipate, leaving behind a white, long armed, lanky ghost.

"I will strangle the life out of you and enjoy consuming it as you weep!" The ghost strikes fast, clamping its hands around Luigi's neck.

The phantom's fingers fell like icicles digging into the younger Mario Brother's skin. The sudden cold steals the air from his lungs causing him to gasp and panic. He starts to shake furiously, desperate to get the specter off of him. Finally he is able to escape the ghoul's grasp and shine the flashlight upon it causing it to become paralyzed. With the Poltergust, he captures and contains the nasty apparition inside. "Phew," Luigi exclaims as he catches his breath. "Is it me or are they much more sinister and hungrier than in the last mansion?" The plumber sits down on the toilet seat to take a break. He leans back and hears the handle jiggle then creak as it pushes down, flushing. The plumber raises an eyebrow confused then suddenly he feels himself getting sucked down into the toilet. "Ahh!" He attempts to push himself off by pushing on the rim, but the force is too strong and he is sucked in. The other side of the toilet is surprising as it is a different room, but very similar to the bathroom he was in; it appears to just be a mirror's reflection of it. "That was different," the plumber observes as he stands. He shines his flashlight to find nothing except the vanity mirror. He gazes into it seeing his reflection, but he soon notices it changing; slowly it fades from his normal, healthy, happy face to a zombie version with grey, scarred skin and his cheek and ear dangling off; holding on only by a thin strip of flesh. Luigi jumps back in fright and with a chortle, five boos fly out from within the vanity. The green clad Mario Brother struggles to suck up the slippery boos in the Poltergust 5000, but after he does another key drops to the floor. "I understand this is revenge, but do we have to try to give me a heart attack?" Luigi sits on the toilet once more and is transported back to the original bathroom.


	2. Chasing Squirrels

**Chapter 2- Chasing Squirrels**

After clearing a couple more rooms on the second floor, Luigi becomes stuck having one key that will not fit into the door leading to the next wing. Puzzled, he travels back to the foyer and looks around to see if there are any doors leading further on the first floor. There is one off to the left, but the key does not work. "Urgh," the green clad man grumbles irritated, "why can't he make the order of these keys make sense!" He steps back outside to get some air, descends the steps, and sits down upon the stoop. Scanning the front yard and sees nothing, so feeling safe, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to relax. His relaxation is soon interrupted as he hears a tune being hummed. Popping his eyes open, he steps down into the front yard and finds the brunette ghost from earlier tending to a small flowerbed. A trowel and something long wrapped in a piece of cloth lies beside her.

"Hmmmm hmmm hmmm, there we are! Now to tend to the roses in the back," she states to no one. She stands up, dusts herself off, then grabs her trowel and the wrapped item and begins to walk away.

Luigi follows behind her then notices the object wrapped in clothe becoming unraveled. He stops suddenly as the cloth drops away to reveal a human hand; female judging by the nails and rings upon the fingers. The younger Mario Brother lets out a whimper of fear and disgust then continues to follow the phantom from a safe distance.

She walks to the west side of the mansion and down twenty feet before she parts the overgrown bushes then disappears. Luigi approaches the same spot then after careful inspection, plunges his hands into the bushes. He blindly feels around until his hands find the wooden fence hidden b the bushy barrier. He slides his hands on the wood until his fingers come across a handle and lock. Quickly he takes one hand and grabs the key from his pocket while the other holds the lock. He fumbles for a minute to unlock the gate then it opens. With a deep breath, Luigi slips into the bushes, through the gate and out the other side.

The fence leads to a section of the backyard where a shed, little guesthouse, well, green house, and a couple of trees do the landscape. A large bed of roses lines the west side of the mansion, its vines climbing all the way up to the second story. Amelia is kneeling in front of the monstrous roses burning the arm in the dirt. "That should keep you feed for a while," she mummers to herself. A large doghouse stands not too far behind her, which catches Luigi eye as he can hear barking resonating from the wooden structure. "Samson! Come here Samson," the brunette ghost calls. Out from the doghouse a ghostly, heavy built, Victorian Bulldog emerges. It sniffs the air, turns toward Luigi and growls.

"Uh oh," the younger Mario Brother gulps. The dog charges and Luigi flees to the closest tree, climbing up high enough to stay out of the phantom pooch's reach. "Down! Down boy!" He commands shakily with no result as the dog continues to stand with front legs perched upon the tree trunk and bark. "You're worse than Spooky," the plumber grumbles as remembers the last ghostly bulldog he ran into.

"Samson! Samson, stop chasing squirrels and come here! Samson heel," Amelia orders as she puts the last bit of dirt on the amputated limb. The dog complies and trots over to her, obediently sitting next to her. "Now I don't want you digging this up understand? It has to stay buried, so Edward doesn't see it okay?" Samson cocks his head sideways like he is listening and understands. "Good boy," Amelia praises as she scratches the dog's head. "Now come Samson, it is time for our evening stroll." The ghosts disappear around the building and fade away.

After a minute, Luigi ventures down from the tree, feeling confident that Samson is gone, for now. Landing softly on his feet, he looks over at the roses, specifically at the base where he witnessed Amelia burying the arm. _I feel like I need to uncover that arm, but I don't want to. I mean talk about creepy and eww._ Reluctantly, Luigi goes over to the roses and stares down at the dirt, eye twitching. He looks up to the sky and takes a deep breath. _I hope you know what you are doing._ He turns his attention back to the bed of dirt and bends down to search. Immersing his white gloves into the black topsoil, he digs down to where the arm should be buried, but finds nothing. "Should I be relieved or worried," the plumber ponders as he replaces the misplaced soil and brushes off his gloves. "Glad I didn't have to touch that arm, but now I have no clue where the next area of the mansion or a key. Hmm," the younger Mario Brother scans the yard once more; his eyes settle on the greenhouse. "Now this I can handle," he strolls up to the dusty, dirty glass structure and walks around until he finds the door on the other side, unlocked.


	3. Putrid Greenhouse

**Chapter 3- Putrid Greenhouse**

He steps inside and is surprised by how dark it is; grabbing his flashlight, he scans the room to find the plants are all very healthy, dark green, and tall. The plants are so healthy that they are overgrowing their glass home, making it impossible to see any further then ten to twenty feet ahead on the small narrow path leading further inside. Small streams of moonlight are the only source of light piercing the overgrown foliage along the path giving the place an eerie feeling. He slowly creeps along the path with the aid of his flashlight, listening for anything. A slight rustle of leaves stops him dead in his tracks and puts him on edge. Slowly he continues to creep along a few more steps when he hears another slightly louder rustle of leaves. Quickly he spins around, shining his flashlight up into the canopy of greenery, but sees nothing. _I am getting paranoid._ As he continues, leaves brush against his arms and shoulders causing him to shiver with chills. As he walks he feels something brush against his leg causing him to yelp. He stops to breath and calm down, _It's okay, just a greenhouse nothing wrong with plants._ Suddenly movement on the path ahead grabs his attention leading him to venture deeper into the greenhouse.

After a bend in the path, Luigi stumbles upon a large opening with a small fountain. "Well this is nice," he mummers to himself as he sets on the edge. He stares down into the water looking at the few coins scattered on the bottom then an odd shape catches his eye, a key. "Hey, this is what I've been looking for!" He reaches into the water, which penetrates his glove cooling his skin in the humid greenhouse, and retrieves the long silver key then puts it in his pocket.

A bellow echoes throughout the conservatory causing anxiety to swell inside Luigi. _I knew this was too easy. Time to go._ He stands to leave, but fails to notice a thin vine wrapping around his ankle. He tries to take a step, but finds unusual resistance; as he notices the vine several more sprout out from the foliage and grab a hold of him; dragging the feet right from underneath him. He slams hard to the ground, landing on his stomach, and claws at the dirt to prevent being dragged away, but to no avail.

The vines drag him deep into the foliage to their source, a large putrid piranha plant. The looks like the Lava Piranha Mario encountered at Mt. Lavalava during his adventure reclaiming the Star Rod from Bowser. The large, red-spotted, yellow piranha bloom roars at Luigi, gnashing its purple teeth menacingly. The piranha's vines wrap around the plumber's arms, torso, and legs and squeeze tightly causing breathing to become more difficult. Then the vines sprout thrones that rip the plumber's clothing and tears into skin causing him to scream in pain. The piranha smirks a toothy grin then bellows once more. Responding to the call, six vines with buds sprout up in between the younger Mario Brother and the main bloom of the plant. All the buds lick their lips then spring forth and constrict the plumber further, making it practically impossible to breathe. He struggles to loosen their grip, but it only causes more pain as the thorns dig into him further. He grits his teeth, but screams out as each of the small buds bite into his flesh. He can feel the poison entering his veins and spreading as the blood carries it throughout his body.

The greenhouse starts to change color and spin, he feels nauseous, tired, clammy, and lightheaded. The plant begins to retract its vines, bringing the plumber closer to the main bloom its intent to make him plant food. Its smile broadens and heartily laughs, as its hunger will soon be vanquished after so many years of nothing. Its hot breath smells of rotting vegetation as it blows past Luigi in several bursts as the plant pants excitedly.

The green clad man closes his eyes, feeling his time coming to an end. A burst of cold on his cheek causes his eyes to spring open; the Poltergust's hose dangles in front of his face. Seizing the opportunity, he curls his head up, lodging the hose between his cheek and shoulder then turning on the switch by pressing down the button with his cheek. Fire spews from the hose and into the putrid piranha's mouth. The piranha screams a bestial cry of pain as it burns. As it thrashes in pain, it throws the plumber across the greenhouse; he crashes through one of the panes and lands in the backyard.

The greenhouse bursts into flames, the fire growing immense due to all the vegetative fuel. Luigi can still hear the piranha plant wailing in pain as it withers in the fire; the fire warms his back as the cold dew on the grass cools his cheek. His vision begins to blur, all he can see is the red from the fire reflecting onto the grass and shadows. Suddenly he sees a round shadow with something upon it shining brightly. "What is that," he mumbles weakly. Black outlines his vision and it starts to close in; laughter, familiar sinister laughter, echoes in his ears then footsteps from afar break up the noise.

"Luigi? Luigi?" The shadow disappears and the footsteps gradually grow louder. "Luigi! Lad what happened? Luigi!" The world goes dark.


	4. Recovery Woes

**Chapter 4- Recovery Woes**

A crack of light pierces the darkness and the mumbling of a television in the adjourning room replaces the sound of the piranha's dying cries. A plush pillow replaces the dewy grass. Luigi groans as he adjusts to his new surroundings. _What happened? Where am I?_ He sits up and swings his feet over the edge of the bed to the cold concrete floor. Slowly, he stands and steadies himself then shakes away the cobwebs and heads for the light streaming in. He opens the door to find Gadd's lab sprawled in front of him. "Gadd?"

"Ah you're awake," the professor exclaims happily, "good. How do you feel?"

"All right, I guess; a little sore," the plumber fumbles.

"You're lucky lad, that's all I can say," the elderly professor hops off his stool and approaches the young man. "You were in rough shape; cuts and bites all over. Not to mention, I was sure the poison got you."

The putrid piranha buds flash back to his mind and he gulps. "The putrid poison, yeah Mario told me its pretty nasty stuff."

"Pretty nasty, is a pale description for how dangerous and deadly the poison is. This poison is special; it starts to putrefy the body from the inside. If I had not gave you the antidote in time, not only would you die, but possibly became a zombie as well."

"Fantastic."

"But that is a very slim possibility, more likely you would become a boo."

"Even better," Luigi shutters.

"Anyway, that didn't happens, so we're good and should focus back on the mansion and saving your brother."

"Agreed, I should figure out where this key leads to." The plumber pulls out the long silver key he found in the fountain and shows E. Gadd.

"Well looks like your encounter was worth it then. I would suggest going back to the yard and working from there," the elderly man advises. "Good luck lad, be careful; you're still not 100%, so be cautious."

"Will do."

He treads through the back yard and stops in front of where the entrance of the greenhouse use to stand. The memories flash in his mind and he shakes them away then walks over to where he landed after being thrown. The image of the shadow he saw before his vision faded comes to mind. _Was that King Boo I saw? Hoping to strike me down while I was weak? It didn't look big enough though,_ he ponders. The Dual Scream rings snapping him out of his thoughts, "Yes Professor?"

"Just checking on you my boy," Gadd replies. "Did you find where the key goes?"

"Not yet, but working on it," he continues to trudge through the yard until he finds a set of small steps leading up to the back door of the mansion. "Got it, I'm going in."

"All right be careful."

Luigi steps inside and then the door slams behind him enclosing him in nothing but pitch black. "Mario? Ma-ma-Mario," he calls out shakily.

A woman's voice responds, "No Edward its me."

"Amelia," Luigi asks trying to remember her name.

"Just packing, I still cannot believe your father. I did not think he was so eccentric. I mean we are going halfway across the world to do this, this ritualistic funeral. It seems so uncivilized."

The plumber scratches his head.

"I understand he was passionate, but this is way too far! It has to be heresy; our church would excommunicate us forever if they knew! Besides that, it is also very inconvenient considering that we are saving up for the wedding."

He looks around in the dark.

"I am not being insensitive," she yells causing Luigi to jump. "I am simply stating a fact! I am sorry dear. I know it's been hard for you, but we kind of saw this eventuality coming."

The green clad brother breathes out a sigh.

"There is no angel of death haunting our house," she bellows causing Luigi to jump again. "Just because we've had three maids pass in our presence and now our father does not mean that this house is cursed. Lets just focus on Charles' funeral and making sure his wishes are fulfilled without bankrupting us."

There is a long silence until Luigi calls out, "Hello? Amelia? Hello?"

"Hello plumber," another feminine voices replies, dark and malevolent.

"He-e-e-e-l-l-l-l-l-o? Who, who-o's there," Luigi quakes.

"The name is Jezebel, but it is of no matter," she snidely notes. "The matter of importance is that you have caused much grief and suffering."

"Oh I'm-m-m sorry."

"Do not taunt me plumber! I refuse such a feeble apology. I ensure you that you will wish your mother had never bore you when I have concluded with you."

The room suddenly lights up, so brightly it is as if the younger Mario Brother is staring into the sun. Luigi shades his eyes with his hands and looks forward, but all he can see is a faint outline of a woman. "Those whom you love will suffer just as mine have suffered!" The lights cut out again leaving the plumber essentially snow-blinded; he hears a door open then shut and footsteps fading away then disappearing. He stands, waiting for his eyes to adjust once more. His pocket begins to vibrate with a familiar ring.

"Yes Gadd?"

"Are you okay lad?"

"Yeah just a little shook up and blind."

"You should be shook up, that was no normal paranormal being."

"I had a feeling she had some clout behind her; at least she acted like it."

"You are dealing with a demon my boy."

"A demon? What do you mean demon? No, you've got to be pulling my leg."

"Yes, a demon. You are dealing with Jezebel, the eternal shadow."

"Never heard of her before…"

"Maybe you haven't heard of Jezebel, but I know you have heard of her sister, the Shadow Queen."

Luigi gulps, _The Shadow Queen, oh boy._ He remembers Mario telling him about his encounter with her. She was an ancient demon that was locked away behind the Thousand Year Door, which was locked by seven crystal stars. Mario found these stars and accidently unleashed the Shadow Queen, who then possessed Princess Peach. Mario had to fight the Shadow Queen in order to liberate Peach from her grasp. He informed Luigi that it was the scariest battle that he ever fought; cause he had to hurt Peach to save her. "Yeah I've heard of her."

"Thought so," Gadd notes. "Well Jezebel is a understudy of the Shadow Queen."

"Since when do demons have understudies," Luigi asks confused.

"Think of it as job shadowing, in layman's terms."

"How do you know about this anyway?"

"I study boos lad, but it never hurts to dabble in similar fields to ensure one's self," Gadd advises. "Point being, we need to be careful because we cannot be sure what she is up to or why she is even involved."

"She specifically noted about my loved ones…could she be after Mario," Luigi asks, panic creeping into his voice. "Revenge for her teacher?"

"Quite possible lad, quite possible," Gadd agrees.

"I need to work quickly then, there is no way I can let her get a hold of my brother!"

"Stay focused boy, don't get a head of yourself or get into a tizzy; that's what she wants," the elderly professor warns.

"Right, right," Luigi breathes trying to calm down. "I'll be careful and more vigilant. Talk to you later professor."

"All right lad, good luck and stay calm." With that the transmission ends and Luigi heads through the door that Jezebel exited from.


	5. History Class

**Chapter 5- History Class**

After a series of rooms filled with specters, Luigi finds himself in a lavish study with wooden bookcases that stretch from floor to ceiling and have the ladders that roll along a rail to allow access to each and every book. The library is two stories with plush red carpet and chairs to match strewn about. The large desk on the right side catches the plumber's eye as it is buried with books and journals. As he inspects the desk he notices that all the literature piled upon it is about Egyptian culture and mythology. _Either someone was really into this stuff or they were studying up for history class,_ Luigi observes as he picks up a book. As he puts the book back down after leafing through it, he looks up to see a book jutting out of the shelf, uneven with the others. His OCD kicks in and he walks over and pushes the book back in place aligned with the others. A loud clicking sound causes him to jump and the bookshelf swings open. "A secret passageway, huh," Luigi notes aloud; "of course, every library has one of these right?" The green clad plumber heads down the passageway to a set of descending stairs that eventually lead to a large stone door covered in symbols. He recognizes the symbols and whips out the Dual Scream. "Gadd?"

"What is it Luigi," the elderly professor asks curiously.

"I found a door with some hieroglyphics on it. I was wondering if you could help translate them for me."

"Its not really my area, but I'll give it a try lad; what do you have?" Luigi describes each of the symbols and Gadd punches it into his computer hoping it will enlighten them. "Ah okay, this is what my translator program says, 'Do not open this door; if done, the peace of the afterlife will be disturbed and the intruder will suffer greatly.'"

"With that, its time to turn around," the plumber notes and turns to leave.

"Oh don't believe that pish-posh lad! Come on, go inside," the professor exclaims. "The ectoplasmic radar is spiking; you have to go inside!"

"Oh no I don't," Luigi retorts; "I have read about various explorers that go inside cursed tombs and then days, weeks, or months later they or their love ones dies or have a debilitating accident. As a man studying the paranormal you can't deny this. Wait, the what is spiking?"

"The ectoplasmic reader, it's a new program in the Dual Scream; instead of just detecting boos, it can now detect all forms of the paranormal by detecting ectoplasm," Gadd explains. "Back to the topic at hand, I agree curses can be real, but this is not Egypt sonny. I doubt there is a real curse on that door."

"True, we are very far from where such curses were known to the point of administrating, but you're sure no one could look this stuff and do it here," the plumber asks.

"No, but it is very unlikely. Plus this is the only way we are going to save your brother," Gadd logics.

"All right I'm going in," Luigi declares, pushing fears and worries aside for the sake of his brother. He reaches for the handle, slowly pulls the door open, and steps inside.

The door leads to a large room with a path lined by sandstone pillars that have torches affixed upon them. Sand blows around the room with phantom winds guiding it along. The plumber switches the Poltergust to fire mode and lights the first torch that he can reach. Subsequently, after lighting that one torch all the other torches light, which show Luigi a path strewn through the large room. He follows the path to the other side that leads to another door with a picture of a pharaoh greeting Anubis, Egyptian God of the Dead or Lord of the Underworld, and statues of Egyptian jackals are perched on either side of the door. "This is just weird," the plumber comments as he pulls the door open which leads to another set of stairs. He steps through the door and descends halfway down the steps when he hears the hefty door close atop the stairs. He gulps nervously then continues down the narrow hallway of sandstone until he reaches a room at the bottom of the stairs. It is a small room, which makes Luigi suddenly claustrophobic, with small groupings of clay pots in three of its corners. The pots' lids are all shaped as the different animal heads of the Egyptian gods and goddesses. Luigi heads over to the last corner, as it is stacked with trinkets, valuables, books, and a photo album. Curious, he picks up the album and begins leafing through it. The first page reads, 'Charles Edward Harrisburg;' and shows a picture of an older man standing next to a younger man who looks similar, no doubt his son. The following pages contain pictures of the two men doing various things at different locations then one picture catches his eye. The two men are standing in a field with a familiar auburn woman; "Amelia?"

A rumbling sound comes from the middle of the room causing the younger Mario Brother to turn quickly from the album. He shines his flashlight to the middle of the room, which reveals a large sarcophagus setting on the floor; a gold plated, traditional sarcophagus with its lid slightly ajar. Luigi's arm starts quivering, unseen torches light up with fire and shouts surprised. A white wisp emerges from the case causing the plumber's eyes to widen and his breathing to shorten. Above the sarcophagus the wisp takes shape as an elderly gentleman wearing a tunic and shendt made of white linen and a nemes upon his head; to the plumber he looked like the pharaoh pictured on the door with Anubis.

"How dare you disturb my tomb? Intruder, grave robber, have you no shame," the ghost accuses.

"I'm not a grave robber," Luigi defends. "I would not take your life treasures Charles."

"How do you know my name thief? Do not patronize me with lies! You learned it from my treasure! It is bad enough that I could not enter the afterlife and am perpetually trapped on this earth, but then to have some cretin come and steal from my tomb is unacceptable!"

"I'm not here to steal!"

"Liar! You did not heed the warning on the door and now I will curse you with the curse that is placed on me," Charles disappears and the torches glow a low red. Luigi's eyes dart hastily around the room then looks to the walls. Black jackals resembling Anubis starkly contrast their sandstone canvas and then their white eyes start to glow red. Luigi steps back as he watches the jackals emerge from their images and land in front of him, snarling. "Feel Anubis' wrath," the ghost's voice booms and echoes throughout the small room.

With his eyes still fixed on the jackals, the younger Mario Brother pulls out the Dual Scream in hopes to contact Gadd. He tries, but to no avail; all he gets is static. Suddenly one of the four jackals lunges at the plumber. He dodges out of the way, but finds himself closer to another one, which decides to take advantage of the opportunity and latches down onto his leg. Luigi screams out in pain then whacks the large black canine with his flashlight causing it to let go.

His mind races as he tries to figure out how to get rid of the jackals. _Okay, these are obviously jackals that symbolize Anubis, so maybe something about Anubis himself is the key to defeating them. What do I know about Anubis?_ The young plumber tries to rack his brain, but is interrupted as the jackals continue their attack. He is able to dodge another pounce, which sends the dog into the tomb wall, temporarily stunning it. The other two Jackals stalk closer, Luigi brandishes his flashlight at them, but makes no contact. _Okay, Anubis is the God of the Dead or wait is he? Yes, but no; doesn't he lead spirits through trials in the afterlife? Isn't there something about scales? Crap that doesn't help me! I should have looked at those books before coming in here!_ The stunned jackals regain their footing and join their pack members; stealthily the sneak behind the Mario Brother and enclose him in a ring.

 _Oh no, I'm surrounded,_ he thinks panicked. _Time to just use the process of elimination,_ he whips out the Poltergust's hose and blasts fire at the jackals. The fire envelops them, but they are not affected. They begin to close in, snapping their vicious jaws through the flames of the fire. _Not working, not working!_ Luigi quickly switches the elemental medal on the Poltergust and lands on water. Turning it on to full blast, he blasts two of the jackals across the room. The other two pounce on Luigi and drag him down to the floor. The water sprays everywhere as the plumber falls, including onto one of the walls. One of the jackals' pictures is washed away; the black streaks down the wall, as the etched outline remains empty. The jackal pulling on his leg howls in pain then simply disappears.

"Ah ha!" He shakes off the other jackal and quickly washes the walls as he dodges more attacks. One by one the jackals howl in defeat then vanish from existence; as the last one disappears, Charles reappears hovering over his sarcophagus.

"How did you beat the hounds of the dead? The servants of Anubis," the elderly ghosts confounded.

Instead of listening to the phantom, the green clad man pulls out the Dual Scream again and scans the ghost's heart. 'My burial was a debacle, but my tomb is perfect!'

"Is that so," Luigi retorts as he returns the Poltergust to its normal function and takes aim for a pot in a close corner. _The one thing I do remember from history class is that the pots held the mummy's organs and preservation was everything to the Egyptians, to ruin that is to ruin a perfect tomb._ The Poltergust sucks up one of the pots causing it to stick to the end of the hose then Luigi aims the pot at Charles and switches the red machine into reverse, shooting it at Charles.

"Not my treasure," the elderly ghost screams as he becomes stunned. The plumber quickly flashes the ghost with his flashlight then flips the Poltergust back into its normal mode. "No, no, don't make me leave my tomb," the ghost pleads as he struggles and tries to flee but eventually loses. Charles is sucked into the Poltergust's containment chamber causing the tomb to light up brightly. The Dual Scream buzzes in Luigi's pocket.

"Luigi! Are you all right," E. Gadd asks, concerned.

"Yeah just a little shook up," the plumber replies.

"Quite understandably son," Gadd notes. "Perhaps you should come back and empty the Poltergust."

"Sounds good," Luigi agrees and ends the transmission. As he turns to leave, something sparkling at the foot of the sarcophagus catches his eye. The pot he threw at Charles contained a gold key, which now lies on the floor. "I guess it was treasure," the green clad observes as he collects the key and heads back to the lab.


	6. Kitchen Boos

**Chapter 6- Kitchen Boos**

After a brief rest in the laboratory, Luigi returns to the mansion to continue investigating the first floor. He bypasses the library to find the kitchen; the simple wood table in the middle is caked with a thick layer of dust. An icebox stands in the corner quiet after many years of no use. Luigi searches through the open shelves along the walls to find bags of flour and sugar, numerous pots and pans, and several cobwebs. _I love the old style, but all of this dust is killing my sinuses,_ he thinks then sneezes. He moves over to the range to find a pot and opens the lid to find a key. "Interesting." As he reaches into the pot the key turns black as the night. An ebony slime creeps over the key, fills the pot then spills over the side of the pot onto the floor causing Luigi to recoil with a gasp. "What the?"

Deep, hearty laughter echoes in the empty kitchen and the door slams shut with dark thrones sealing it. Out of the oozes numerous, black boos form with bright yellow eyes and red, drooling tongues. They remind the plumber of the bomb boos used to fight Bouldergeist in the Ghostly Galaxy. He quickly pulls out the Dual Scream, "Gadd, Ga-a-a-dd can you hear me?"

"What's going on lad, trouble?"

"There are black boos that just came out of ooze looking at me," Luigi notes trembling.

"This is not hrzt..zr…boy," Gadd's transmission begins to break up and the Dual Scream goes dead.

"Gadd? Gadd?" The plumber frantically calls, but has no luck. "Oh boy," he gulps as he puts away the communicator and grabs the Poltergust's hose, ready for battle. _Well maybe this will work,_ he aims for the yellow eyes and turns on the ghost-catching device, but as soon as he hits the power button the eyes fade away and melt into the shadows. _Or not._ The boos cackle in their hiding spots making Luigi uneasy. Pots and pans on the shelves begin to shake, clinking loudly together then the doors of the range and icebox open and slam shut vigorously. All of the noise in the room masks the boos' attack as they try to sneak up and ambush him from the shadows. A couple of attacks succeed; the boos' red tongues slide up and across the plumber's back causing pain like electricity singeing his nerves. _I can't win in this darkness._ He pulls out his flashlight and presses the strobe feature by accident. The blinding bursts of light messes with his vision slightly, but it wrecks havoc upon the dark boos. Their shrills of pain sound like cats being skinned alive or nails screeching down a chalkboard. Quickly the green clad man switches from flashlight to Poltergust and is able to capture all of the shadow boos.

"Phew," he breathes in relief, but as soon as he feels safe, tendrils shoot out of the shadows and wrap themselves around his wrists, knees, torso, and neck then pin him to the floor. The fall knocks the air out of his lungs, but he still struggles against the restraints without much luck. Familiar laughter echoes throughout the room once more. Luigi's eyes dart everywhere for the source of laughter; he sees nothing until he sees movement out of the corner of his eye.

"You may have own the first battle, but you won't win the war," a feminine voice purrs threatening.

All Luigi can see is an outline of a woman with her hands on her hips defiantly. The tendril around his neck tightens, choking him. He struggles for air, lungs begin to burn, and spots dot his darkening vision until suddenly all the tendrils retreat back into the darkness, freeing him. He gasps and his lungs rejoice as cool oxygen quells the burning caused by its absence. The plumber looks back to where the woman had been standing to find no one now, unsurprisingly.

"Just a reminder of with whom you are dealing with mere mortal," she boasts. The lights illuminate the room, signaling that all specters have disappeared.

"Sheesh, she really does not like me, but what have I done to her?" He scratches his temple then turns his attention to the key in the pot. He peers into the large kettle and there it sits, waiting to be plucked from its hiding place. He picks it up and looks closely at it, pondering. "Now where do you go?" Stepping over toward the icebox, he notices another door and tries to open it finding it unlocked. It leads him outside once more to a secluded section of the backyard; the perimeter lined with thick bushes and trees. A thin dirt path leads back to a small cottage which is built in a similar style as the mansion. _What in the world is this?_ He walks up to the front door and tries the key, which is successful.

The foyer of the cottage is small and there are only two doorways, he veers off to the one on the left to fin a modest bathroom. The other doorway leads to a large room with several beds lining the walls. "Maids' quarters, now it makes sense," Luigi pieces together. "Hmm seems pretty tight in here, I can't imagine sharing a room with many people. Heck, just sharing with Mario can be frustrating and that's only one person," he notes aloud, astounded.

"It was crowded was it not ladies," a woman asks.

"Yeah, but very cozy," a second woman retorts.

"And you were never alone," a third woman adds.

Their sudden reply startles Luigi; he looks around the room and spots the three ghosts sitting on a bed across the room from him. All three of the spectral ladies are wearing the same outfit: a white linen dress with aprons. Their hair pulled back into tight buns on the back of their head. "Who are you," the green clad man asks, curious.

"Well I am Elizabeth, this is Jane, and the lady on the end is Rose," the first ghost introduces.

"Hello," Jane and Rose greet with smiles.

"Uh hi," Luigi replies; "so what's your guys' story? How did you end up here?"

"We all worked here," Jane informs.

"It wasn't a terrible job, but it wasn't the best either," Elizabeth adds.

"It was worth it to see Edward everyday," Rose adds dreamily.

"Oh yes, he was a daper man," Elizabeth agrees; "so unfortunate that he betrothed to that strumpet."

"Terrible, despicable woman," Jane hisses.

"What was so wrong with her," Luigi inquires.

"Jealous little cherry," Rose explains. "If she even suspected that Edward was talking to another woman, she thought the woman was trying to steal him away from her clutches."

"Oh, not very attractive," the plumber notes.

"No its not and it only got worse as time passed," Rose continues.

"Much worse," Jane agrees.

"How so," Luigi inquires with interest.

"To the point that we are here," Elizabeth answers cryptically. "Enough about that though, what about you Handsome?"

"Handsome? Me?"

"Yes you," Rose giggles. "What brings you here?"

"King Boo," Luigi simply answers.

"Well I'm not sure who that is, but I will thank him," Rose purrs.

"Thank him? Thank him for what? Scaring me to death? Kidnapping my brother," Luigi asks slightly vexed and confused.

"Thank him for bringing us a new man to feed on," Rose answers as she licks her lips. "We are starving."

"Starving," Luigi gulps, as his face turns pale. "Uh oh." The three ghosts spring off the bed and lunge at the plumber. Luckily, he is able to dive and avoid their attack. After scrambling to his feet, he runs out of the room and locks himself in the small bathroom on the other side of the foyer as the front door is locked and covered in dark thorn vines. "Oh shit, what do I do? What do I do," the green clad man frets.

"Oh Handsome, where did you go," Rose asks hungrily.

"Where are you hiding," Elizabeth purrs.

"Oh man, they're getting too close," he panics as he looks at his ghost catching equipment. He turns his flashlight to strobe then studies the Poltergust's elemental settings, realizing there is a fourth element setting. "That wasn't there last time," he notes.

Suddenly Jane's upper body phases through the door, "There you are Sweetie!" She grabs for Luigi's neck and in response he switches on the flashlight strobe. "Ahh," she screams and covers her eyes, temporarily stunned.

Seizing the opportunity, the plumber sprints out of the bathroom, but does not make it far before screeching to a halt as he is confronted by the other two female specters.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry," Elizabeth asks seductively. "We are just staring to get to know you."

"Why don't you stay around for dinner," Rose invites cordially. "We make a meal to die for!"

"No thanks, I'm full and not a fan of bad puns," he stuns them with the strobe light then switches on the Poltergust set to the new element. Bolts of electricity crackle from the end of the hose and strike the phantoms. They screech in agony as the electricity across their hearts, paralyzing them. After shocking the lady specters, Luigi easily catches and contains them with the Poltergust 5000. He turns to find Jane, but having witnessed the other ladies' fate, she flees back into the main quarters and he follows. Carefully he starts looking for her hiding spot; first he scans for her heart using the Dual Scream, but to no avail as she has it hidden. The plumber then starts shaking and moving furniture to see if he can scare her out; he starts with the beds by the door and moves further into the room. As he approaches the center of the room, a chair sitting by the door rises into the air then spirals through the air toward the back of the plumber's head. After checking underneath another bed, Luigi stands then the chair smashes him in the back with such force he is taken down to all fours with a scream of pain. Despite the throbbing the back, he quickly turns around to field any other projectiles.

Jane materializes at the door, anger flushed in her eyes. "You release them now you bootlicker," she demands as she flings a framed painting from the wall at him. He dodges her assault and she continues to rant. "You have no right to imprison us after all we have been through!" She throws a small table and oils lamp, which he dodges. "How would you like having your life cut short by some psychotic cherry then stuck haunting the place, that you not only died, but worked as well!" All of the beds rattle as they are lifted from the ground along with all the other furniture. "And to top it off your murderer haunts the same grounds!" She throws three of the beds at the plumber, whom is only able to escape by rolling toward her. "My only pleasure in this life is eating and being with my sisters in arms and then you come along to take it all away," she poises the floating objects so they are aimed at the hapless plumber. "Die ghost hunter," she spats then flings her hands, sending the objects on a crash course to the spot where Luigi is sitting.

He rolls out of the way as two small tables crash into the ground; jumps as oil lamps shatter and chairs splinter beneath him the he stops in front of a bed already tossed aside as he spots another coming his way. Instead of running, he stays and braces for impact as the floating bed speeds his way. He is smashed in-between mattresses, the force of the impact surprises him, but the mattresses prevent any damage and act as a shield as other items collide with the bed.

As soon as she has thrown everything she can and sees no sign of the green clad man, she laughs triumphantly. "Got you, you dratted Mary! Now to find your body and free Rose and Elizabeth," she iterates aloud.

Luigi wiggles his way out from between the beds and she spots him.

"Ooo you cussed man, I will enjoy devouring your life!"

He does not reply to her threat, instead he whips out the flashlight and strobes the phantom. She stumbles back stunned then blindly starts chucking small items toward the plumber, including the lit candles perched beside the door. The oil from the lamps thrown earlier ignites instantly and feeds the fire. The heat and sudden light of the fire shocks Luigi causing him to back up a little over the pile of junk heaped up, but he remains focused on the task at hand. He switches on the Poltergust 5000, unleashing electricity upon the specter. Jane screams then floats paralyzed from the shock. Quickly, Luigi flips the Poltergust into its normal mode and begins sucking the ghost into the vacuum container.

"I will not go down without taking you with me," she declares as she struggles against the whirlwind of the Poltergust. She levitates more items from the room, flammable items like books, into the fire causing it to grow. As her strength wanes, she spends her last bit of energy to throw open a closet door that the plumber had not seen before by the door; inside was cleaning supplies and extra lamp oil. She tips the oil over then is trapped inside the Poltergust's containment chamber. The oil spills out profusely, covering the floor.

After catching Jane, Luigi quickly scrambles toward the door, but is stopped as six-foot flames erupt in front of the door. Smoke is filling the room, making it hard to breathe and the flames continue to spread. He looks around desperately for a way out and the only option is the window where the drapes are on fire. _Better than nothing,_ he quickly removes the Poltergust 5000 from his back and throttles it at the window. It crashes through the window, breaking the glass, and lands on the outside of the cottage. The plumber promptly follows as he dives out the window. He grabs one of the Poltergust's straps and drags it through the grass back toward the mansion. Halfway back, the flames reach the main oil container and a loud bang can be heard as the fire engulfs it and the house. Luigi falls back onto the grass and watches the maids' quarters burn for a couple of seconds until the Dual Scream vibrates in his pocket. "Yes Gadd," he coughs as he opens up the communicator.

"What did I say about throwing the equipment," the elderly man scolds. "This is sensitive electronic and mechanical equipment, and if it is not handled properly then it will break when you need it most!"

"Gadd, Gadd," Luigi interrupts.

"What lad?"

"I threw it to get out of there," he points the camera lens to the fire and sends a picture.

"Oh," Gadd stops. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Luigi laughs then coughs.

"Sorry for the lecture my boy, maybe you should come back and take a rest while I look at the Poltergust and empty out the containment chamber," Gadd suggests.

"Sounds good, be there in a second."


	7. Alligator Well and Boo Balcony

**Chapter 7- Alligator Well and Boo Balcony**

After a brief visit back at the lab, Luigi heads back to the secluded section of the back yard, where the maid's quarters once stood. "Dang, two burnt building in one night; people are going to start wondering if I'm a pyro or something," he notes as he observes the debris pile. "There has to be something here," he assumes, "there are no other paths without the need of a key." As he looks around, he notices a large well behind the burnt house plot. The well is made from brick and has the little shed that covers it with a pulley system attached. He shines his flashlight down the well to see water still inside and then something glittering in the bucket at the bottom. He yanks the rope, engaging the pulley to bring up the bucket. As the bucket comes into view, the plumber peers inside and the key glistens in the moonlight, but suddenly it disappears. Fretting, Luigi pours the bucket out onto the grass, revealing nothing but water.

Disappointed and confused, he looks back down the well and sees the key lying once again at the bottom. He grabs the bucket and chucks it back into the well; it lands on the water's surface and floats. He sits on the side of the well and swings his legs over, so they dangle into the well. With a deep breath, he slides into the well and falls into the water below. He dives under the surface, spots the key, and swims toward it. As he approaches the key, he reaches out his hand, but then recoils back as he notices that the dirt around the key does not look right. The key is lying in a little alcove of rocks, jutting out of the dirt almost like a perimeter fence. The odd thing that makes the plumber pause is that the dirt appears to be pulsating, slowly up and down. Luigi reaches down, picks up a rock, and chucks it next to the key. He watches as the rocks slowly sinks and lands next to the key with no adverse effects. Figuring there is no danger, the plumber starts to reach out when suddenly the rocks erupt out of the dirt and the key disappears as the rocks are actually part of a mouth; the mouth of a large alligator snapping turtle.

The turtle is just a bit larger than Luigi, its jaws about the size of the plumber's head. It roars in anger then charges at the green clad man. Luigi swims out of the way, dodging the charge, and the turtle slams into side of the well. The plumber reaches for the hose of the Poltergust readying to fry the turtle, but stops in mid-reach. _If I use electricity, I'll fry us both in this water,_ he ten looks up to the surface and to the floating bucket. Quickly he swims to the bucket, the turtle not too far behind him. He grabs the bucket and yanks on the rope for some slack. The turtle's head emerges from the water with a large splash and jaws snapping. After gaining it's bearing, the snapping turtle turns toward the plumber and charges once more. Before the snapping turtle can crunch down on his leg, Luigi shoves the bucket into the turtle's moth where it becomes stuck. The large reptile thrashes around, trying to get the bucket out of its mouth. As the turtle struggles, Luigi uses the excess rope and wraps it around the turtle's thrashing body then climbs up onto the turtle's shell and then the rope to the top of the well. He climbs out of the well and searches for the end of the rope. After locating the rope the plumber pulls on it, bringing up the bucket and more importantly the alligator snapping turtle out of its home turf. The entangled snapping turtle growls as Luigi lifts it up out of the well and keeps it suspended in mid-air. Cautiously, Luigi braces against the bucket, that is still lodged in the reptile's mouth, and with his free hand reaches inside the turtle's mouth. He pats the turtle's tongue until he feels the key then pulls it out and throws it onto the grass.

After shaking the spit off his hand in disgust, he steps back and lets go of the rope, sending the turtle plummeting to the bottom of the well. It lands with a loud splash and seconds later, its head breaks the surface of the water. With the bucket now out of its mouth, the alligator snapping turtle bellows angrily up at the plumber peering down from the top of the well. Luigi smirks, picks up the key, and heads back to the mansion.

He takes the key up to the second floor, where it leads him to the west wing, which was inaccessible before. The door opens to a long hallway with two doors on each side; he opens the door on the left to find a large balcony similar to the one of the previous mansion. He steps out to the edge and looks out at the landscape. His eyes start with the garage then to the burnt greenhouse, the ruins of the maids' quarters, and the large well, but he notices something past the hedges surrounding the well and maids' quarters, a spire piercing through the trees. He squints trying to clearly identify the landmarks. A small path leads from the western side of the house, which he cannot see past, and winds up into the woods where it disappears behind the cover of the trees. "I bet that's where I need to go," Luigi observes, "but how do I get there?"

"You shan't worry because you won't be venturing any further," a deep voice chuckles.

Luigi shivers as he feels the air drop in temperature as if a shadow is falling upon him. The sharp clink of the black magical thorns causes him to inhale sharply as he knows that he must battle again to progress any further and survive. He slowly turns to see a large black boo staring at him with his bright yellow eyes, gleaming white fangs and bright red tongue. The boo reminds him of Boolossus, but ebony in color. His knees quake slightly, but he quickly grabs his flashlight and tries the strobe, but to no effect.

"Did you seriously think that minuscule flashlight would scare me," the boo heartily laughs. "Pathetic. How did you endure this long? However, your luck is about to run dry." The large boo splits into ten small boos and they charge at the plumber.

Luigi dives out of the way and rolls back onto his feet. There is no shelter on the patio, so no place for him to hide. He grabs his flashlight and tries to use it on the slightly large boos, in their attacks as they use the hit-and-run method. They sneak up on the plumber and lick him as they fly past. Their tongues release a much more potent shock than the ones in the kitchen; the shock drives Luigi to his knees as it causes his legs to give out. He is able to roll out of the way and avoid the pack's attacks while he is on the ground until two of the boos decide to work together. One attacks and brings the plumber to his knees and the other pounces, pushing him down onto all fours. Soon the rest of the boos join in and the shock of their tongues make it feel like his nervous system is on fire. Spots dot his vision and he drops down onto his belly as his limbs give out. He is about to give up as the pain in his nervous system wrecks havoc on his brain until one of the boo bites him. The sharp pain in his left arm overrides the constant pain in his body; he looks over to the boo biting him and smacks it with the flashlight in his other hand. The boo grimaces, but does not let go. Luigi flashes the boo with the strobe causing it to let go out of anger, he grabs the boo's tongue and flings it away. It collides with the rail and floats aimlessly, stunned by the impact. The younger Mario Brother turns his attention to the other boos despite the pain. He flips over and shines the strobe in their faces. They cover their eyes and retreat a couple of feet, giving Luigi the opportunity to get back to his feet. He looks back over to the boo that bit him to see it just now starting to recover from its collision with the rail giving him an idea. The boos start darting around once more, hoping to get the plumber pinned with another hit-and-run attack. The green clad man has wised up; however, and he takes position up against the mansion wall. One of the ebony boos dashes toward him, as it draws closer it sticks out its tongue for a swipe. Before the boo can lick him, Luigi grabs it tongue and swings it into the wall. The collision stuns the boo and the plumber pulls out the Poltergust to trap it with success. The green clad plumber repeats the process until only five are left, at this point the boos stop their dash attacks and recombine into the large boo.

"Crafty little man you are," the boo observes. "Your craftiness will not save you." The large boo dashes toward the man with tongue extended, Luigi dodges, and the boo smacks into the wall with a loud thud. The younger Mario Brother turns to the boo, ready to contain him with the Poltergust, but the boo shakes off the collision easily and turns back to the plumber. "It is not going to be that easy simpleton," the ebony boo informs then charges once more.

Luigi dodges and rolls underneath a shelf planter, which does not hide him very well. _Seriously? Okay if the wall hit won't do it, an element surely will. I hope…_ He pops out from underneath the planter and aims the Poltergust toward his foe. The boo rams full speed ahead and as it gets closer, the plumber shoots out fire from the Poltergust into the boo's mouth. The fire does not slow down the boo, he continues to charge; the plumber dives down to the floor, barely avoiding the attack. After the boo sweeps overhead, he gets back to his feet and faces his adversary once more. When the boo turns and faces him, Luigi notices that the boo's tongue is on fire, but nothing else is affected. _Hmm,_ with a flips of the switch he changes the elemental to electricity and aims for the tongue.

The boo laughs then starts to vanish, "Not going to be that easy…" The boo vanishes, cloaked under the dark of night.

"Shit," the plumber grumbles as he grips the hose of the Poltergust tighter, nerves starting to get to him. He watches his surroundings cautiously and constantly, waiting for the boo to make his move or reveal his location. A pot on the planter shelf moves slightly making a slight creak causing his head to turn then a firefly flies by his head, spooking him. "Heck with this," he unleashes the lightning and sweeps the entire balcony trying to flush the boo out. Near the rail, bolts of electricity swirl around in an oval pattern, out of character unless it is surrounding an oval object. "There you are," the plumber runs toward the boo with electricity pouring out of the vacuum. The boo laughs despite being found and charges toward the younger Mario Brother. As they collide, Luigi pays the price as the boo's electrified tongue deals a double dose of pain. The electricity transfers from the boo's tongue to the plumber's body then the sting of the poison from the boo's tongue follows causing him to drop to the ground.

The boo chuckles triumphantly, "Stupid little man, you just don't listen." The boo begins to swoop once more for an attack.

Luigi rolls over to see the boo coming at him once more. He switches the Poltergust to the next element and readies himself. When the boo comes into range, the green clad Mario Brother grabs his tongue and yanks hard. The boo is thrown off balance and falters, tumbling to the ground. With tongue in hand, the plumber smashes the end of the hose into the boo's mouth and turns it on. Ice crystals grow on the bright red tongue and quickly encase it. The boo screams as the ice continues to spread and encases the boo itself. With the black boo completely frozen, Luigi picks up the ice cube and lifts it over his head, "You were easier to catch when you were in pieces!" He chucks it down onto the patio and it shatters into five pieces; each piece containing a smaller boo. _How the? Okay, not what I thought would happen, but whatever,_ Luigi shakes his head and turns the Poltergust back to its normal function and captures all of the frozen boos. The thorns on the door disappear and the door unlocks. The younger Mario Brother breathes a sigh of relief and heads back inside.


	8. Strange Ladies

**Chapter 8- Strange Ladies**

As he enters the hallway he feels cold, as if the temperature in the house dropped fifteen degrees. "Brrr," he rubs his arms for warmth and inspects his surroundings. At the end of the hall, he sees the silhouette of a woman; her back to him, arms crossed. "Amelia?"

"What are you going to do? Call the police," she asks sharply.

"What? Okay, who am I this time," Luigi asks confused.

"I only did it because I love you Edward," she hisses, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Ah okay, wait did what?"

"They were fawning over you, having scandalous and impure thoughts. You only fueled their bullish thoughts by interacting with them," she accuses. "You should have ignored them like you do with the butlers! Those cherries were going to steal you away from me and I had to stop them!"

"Stop them," Luigi pauses then puts it together. "They were talking about you; you killed the maids."

"I did not intend to kill them, but they started fighting and arguing with me and I lost my temper," she explains as she turns around. Tears stream down her face and she wipes one away, careful not to use her sleeve as she is wearing her wedding dress. The dress is all white and made with lace; the sleeves are long as well as the skirt that lightly brushes against the floor.

"That's no excuse to do that," the green clad Mario Brother notes.

"Do not yell at me Edward! I know I have messed up, but now that you know we can move on right? Let's not let something like this ruin our wedding night," she pleads. "They were not important anyway, just maids, indentured servants, practically nonexistent."

"Wow, that's sick, twisted, and creepy."

"No! No! Edward please! Please don't leave me," she begs, crying as she clutches a tissue in her hand and waves it frantically.

Luigi raises an eyebrow skeptically.

"You cannot leave me after all we have been through! After all I have sacrificed for you," her pleading starts to gain a harsh, accusatory tone. "How dare you just dismiss me like some maid!"

The plumber steps back, starting to feel real uneasy and uncomfortable.

"This relationship might not be of great consequence to you, but it is crucial to me and I will not let anyone else have you!" She reveals a knife in her hand and charges toward the green clad plumber. She slashes wildly at him; he is able to block most of the slashes, except one on his upper arm. As the cut begins to ooze blood, he steps back and clutches his arm to minimize the bleeding. Amelia stops her slashing rampage and freezes in place, with knife in hand. She looks at the knife, turning it sideways and tilting it so the light highlights different sections and the blood drips in different directions. Her nostrils flare, as she smells the air; the scent of iron is strong due to the presence of the blood. Cautiously she brings the knife closer to her mouth then gingerly licks the blade, careful not to catch the edge. The phantom moans in pleasure, as she tastes the blood causing Luigi to turn pale. She turns her attention back to the green clad Mario Brother, staring longingly at his arm then suddenly her eyes dart up to meet his. "Your life tastes so sweet, it's been a long time since I have tasted something like that," her voice is darker and full of hunger. "I have not seen a man since Edward either. Edward," she repeats and moves her arm revealing a large dark crimson spot on her white gown underneath her arm stretching to her stomach. "He informed me that I was a danger to society and did not deserve to live any longer. A monster is what he referred to me as," she continues. "He stabbed me with this very knife and watched as I bled to death on the hallway floor. All I longed for was to be married and maintain a family with him as the head, but no; instead he betrays me," she hisses sourly. "I refuse to let any man hurt me again," she vows and stares down Luigi. "Including you phantom hunter."

"Now wait, I haven't done anything to you," Luigi tries to reason. "What makes you think I'm here to harm you?"

"Everyone is out to harm me and I won't let you get away with it!" She lunges at him once more with the knife and cuts him on the shoulder before he is able to get away. "I will finally feast on the life that was so brutally taken away from me!" She charges again and manages to catch the plumber, wrapping her arms around him, pinning his arms down to his side. With him defenseless, she bites down onto his bleeding shoulder and sucks up the blood streaming from it.

Luigi hisses in pain as Amelia bites down and struggles against her with little avail. As he realizes what she is doing he starts to slam himself into the walls to shake her off. The force of slamming into the wall does not shake her, but jostles the knife from her hand. It clatters onto the wood floor causing both Amelia and Luigi's heads to snap to attention. While she is distracted, Luigi shakes harder, escaping Amelia's grasp, and then dives for the knife.

"No," she screams as she follows.

He grabs the knife handle and flips over to see her charging at him and ready to pounce. She leaps and instinctively he thrusts out his arm. The blade plunges into the dark red spot on her dress, reopening the wound. She gasps as the blade pierces through then stumbles back, looking at the knife sticking out of her.

"Why Edward? Why?" She falls to the floor, sprawled out like a rag doll thrown to the ground. Her heart appears faintly in her chest. At the sight of this, Luigi quickly gets to his feet and starts up the Poltergust. Amelia is caught and contained without further struggle. After she is contained, Luigi sits back down on the floor and leans his back against the wall.

"Phew, what a screwed up lady," he mumbles to himself. "I've never heard or seen a ghost act like that before." He pulls out the Dual Scream and contacts Gadd.

"Yes lad, what is going on? Whoa sonny," Gadd gasps; "what happened to you?"

"Amelia," the plumber simply replies.

"Amelia?"

"Yeah she's a ghost I kept running into in here," Luigi explains.

"I hope you caught her," E. Gadd notes.

Luigi chuckles then let's out a deep breath, "Yeah I did, and it was interesting."

"How so?"

"Every time I ran into her it seemed like she was in her own world. She would call me by different names; guys she knew in life or just ignored me. This encounter was especially strange as she tried to kill me; well she tried to kill Edward, which I gather was he fiancée, but anyway, she had a knife and she cut me. After I started bleeding, she snapped out of her world and actually acknowledged who I was, not one of the other guys. Then she attacked me again and tried to suck out my blood until I stabbed her with the knife she had. I think she was killed with that knife as she slipped back into her world when I stabbed her," Luigi concludes.

"Hmm, I have never seen if myself, but there are accounts of ghosts like this. These ghosts are what I call Backharkers because they are stuck replaying their life in pieces, usually the end of their life is what they re-enact generally because it usually is very traumatic. It sounds like Amelia was stuck replaying a rather large chunk of her life however," Gadd observes. "A traumatic life perchance?"

"Well, she was a jealous woman and she killed three people," Luigi informs.

"Tragic indeed," Gadd asserts. "Well lad, how about coming back to the lab so I can look at that shoulder and you can get some rest?"

"Yeah that sounds…" the plumber trails off as he looks down the hall and notices a soft, flickering glow of light coming from a room at the end of the hall.

"Luigi? Luigi? Lad what is it," Gadd asks concerned.

"Going to check something out, hold on a minute," the plumber shuts the communicator despite the professor's strong objections. As he approaches the door, he notices that it is slightly ajar and pushes it open. The door opens with a slight squeak and Luigi steps inside. The room is vast and open; large windows on the opposite wall adjoining the hallway are covered with thick light blocking curtains. A few pieces of furniture line the wall next to the door, each one covered with a white sheet, dusted with age. On the other two sides of the room, stacks of mirrors lay against the walls. On the far side of the room, a woman stands holding a candle. Luigi can only make out her silhouette from behind, but when he looks past her into the mirrors he can see much more. He cannot see her face, but the candle and mirrors illuminate her front. The sight causes the plumber to gasp and gulp. The woman is wearing the same wedding dress Amelia had on, but there are large splotches of crimson spotting the dress; blood. It is one the skirt, bodice, and even on the gloves clutching the candlestick. "Amelia? It's not possible," he stammers.

The woman shakes her head back and forth, signifying that she is not Amelia.

"Who are you then," Luigi asks confused. The woman turns around and faces him; the candlelight illuminates her face. The plumber staggers back as he recognizes her immediately; "Daisy?"

She smiles, her eyes bright and sincere then they turn yellow and her smile turns into an evil smirk. "Yes Darling, come, come embrace your bride," she replies with malice as she opens and outstretches her arms.

Black tendrils wrap around the plumber and jerk him backwards sending him crashing into the mirrors behind him. The shriek of the breaking mirrors is ear piercing. The green clad man is knocked out instantly; his head bows down as his body settles and glass fragments reign down upon his hat. The tendrils retreat and Daisy approaches the fallen plumber, glaring.

She crouches down and cocks her head to see Luigi's face. "Seven years bad luck," she mocks as she brushes some of the debris off his hat. "I told you that you would suffer. Temptation suggests that I extinguish you now whilst you are vulnerable; however, I will leave that honor to my cohort. He so disparately wants to repay you for denying his revenge the last time." She stands and exits quickly, abandoning the plumber in the room by the balcony. The Dual Scream vibrates in his pocket and rings, but he cannot answer.


	9. Recovery Rants

**Chapter 9- Recovery Rants**

Minutes later, Gadd enters the room panting. "I'm getting too old for this tom-foolery," he exhales as he holds his chest. "This old legs are just not as fast as they use to be," he notes then looks over to see Luigi slumped over against the mirrors. "Luigi!" He scrambles and squats in front of the plumber. "Lad, lad, can you hear me?" The elderly man pats the green clad man's face trying to get him to stir. "Come on feller, you got to wake up." E. Gadd stands up and moves to Luigi's side, so he can look at the back of his head. He notices the blood splatter on the mirrors and pieces of glass in Luigi's hair. "Poor feller looks like you got slammed hard. I got to get you back to the lab; this was much easier when you were outside," Gadd grimaces. He heads over to the windows and yanks one of the large curtains down from its rod. After detaching the curtain, he lays it out flat on the floor then carefully rolls the plumber onto it. "I will take this, I will need it and it'll make you lighter," Gadd notes as he slides the Poltergust 5000 off of Luigi's back and onto his own.

After tending to Luigi's shoulder and tucking him into bed to recover, Gadd enters the lab and heads toward his stool situated in front of the wall of monitors. "Phew what a trek," he slumps off the Poltergust from his back and climbs into the chair. "Luckily there were no ghosts to deal with coming back," he leans back and starts to doze off then suddenly snaps to attention. "Oh wait, I must empty the Poltergust," he slides off the chair and rolls the Poltergust 5000 over to the Ghost Portraitificationizer. He attaches the hose to the vent and watches as all the ghosts are transformed from their meta-physical state to a physical state of a painting. He watches Amelia with particular interest as he wonders what her portrait will look like. As the portrait comes off the press, E. Gadd picks it up and examines it. His face turns to a grimace at the sight. "Poor Lass," he shakes his head. Amelia is standing very poised, in her wedding dress with tears streaming down her cheeks with the blood stain clearly visible. Gadd places the portrait back into the machine to be stored with the others until he hangs them in the gallery.

The elderly professor scuttles back to his stool and perches atop of it then turns his attention to the monitors. "Maybe the spectralometer will be able to get a fix on the primary target since Amelia is gone," the professor mumbles to himself as he boots up the software. An image of the mansion pops up on the screen; it looks like a thermal image as the mansion's outline is green and the rest of the screen is black. A second green outline appears behind the mansion and E. Gadd zooms in. "Hmm, looks like there is another significant building back behind the mansion in the woods," he observes. Beyond the second building is a large mass of red, indicating massive activity. "Sneaky little devil," the elderly man comments. "Not even hiding in the mansion, just using it as a decoy." The professor continues to monitor the area, studying the screen trying to figure out what he is looking at.

An hour later, the squeal of a door hinge causes the elderly professor to turn away from his monitors. Out from the bedroom the plumber emerges, holding his head. "Welcome back to the land of the living," Gadd greets. "You took quite a nasty tumble, are you all right?"

"Yes and no," Luigi replies wincing.

"Understandable sonny, I've never seen you take such a beating," Gadd sympathizes.

"King Boo is playing hardball and he let me know that at the very beginning," the plumber notes. "The worst part is that Jezebel is doing the same, but even worse! I am still confused as to what I did to her!"

"Maybe she has you confused with your brother," Gadd offers. "He did take down her mentor."

"No this is more personal, she did this to me not King Boo. I'm sure he was responsible for the greenhouse and all the ghosts, but the black boos, the kitchen encounter, and this last one was all her," Luigi sighs. "And now I know, she has a hostage," he informs worried.

"Hostage," Gadd repeats shocked. "Who?"

"Princess Daisy from Sasaraland; my girlfriend," he chokes out, tears welling in his eyes.

Gadd gulps, "I guess it is personal."

"King Boo kidnaps Mario; Jezebel takes Daisy; they force me to traverse another mansion, which has severely kicked my ass multiple times; they are trying to kill me and have almost succeeded a couple of times; and I haven't even found them yet," he rants frustrated, tears rolling down his cheeks. "What did I do to deserve this? What did Mario and Daisy do to deserve this? Oh wait I know, they are two of the most important people in my life; that's a crime to these paranormal assholes! I just want to quit, let them win, maybe just trade me for them and let them have their way with me, just as long as no one else has to suffer. I don't care what they do to me as long as this stops!"

"I know this had been hard lad, but you got to dust yourself off and get back up on the horse as they say." The elderly professor hops down from his stool and walks over to the plumber. "They've got you depressed and feeling hopeless and they want you to give up, but think about it son; you offer yourself in trade for their freedom, the will kill, then go back on their word and take them as well. Trading is not an option lad," Gadd informs. "The only way this stops is by you catching King Boo and Jezebel."

"You're right," Luigi agrees; "they have pushed me to a breaking point, you know?"

"I know sonny, I've been there before," Gadd comforts.

"I've got important people counting on me," Luigi straps on the Poltergust 5000 and turns to the wall of monitors, "so where to next?"

"You're in luck my boy," Gadd smiles and hops back onto his stool. "I believe I have located our hosts for the evening," he punches a couple of keys to bring up various views of the woods behind the mansion. "The Spectralometer has picked up an enormous amount of paranormal activity in the woods behind the mansion. There's a small building back there; I'm not sure what it is, but that seems to be where they are hiding."

"Hmm, so that's the stronghold," Luigi notes. "I guess its time to walk into the lion's den."


	10. Unsatisfactory Results

**Chapter 10- Unsatisfactory Results**

He traverses the mansion once more back to the ruins of the maids' quarters and the water well. Luigi pulls out the Dual Scream and brings up the map that Gadd downloaded for him. _If I am reading this correctly then the entrance to the woods should be on the other side of these perimeter bushes._ He approaches the bushes and checks to see if there are any thorns before squeezing between two of them and emerging on the other side. _Ha, short cut!_ He emerges into a different section of the backyard, but it reminds him a lot of the section with the now burnt greenhouse. The grass is lush, a couple of trees dot the surroundings, a small garden lines the side of the mansion, and there is a door on the side of the mansion. The major difference however is the dirt path that leads from the edge of the yard into the woods that stand behind it. Instead of going directly on the path, Luigi investigates the porch door using the key he gained from the giant, black boo. He opens the door to a small foyer at the base of some stairs. He walks up the stairs to the door atop and opens it without the need of a key. As soon as he steps through the door he curses, as he finds himself in the hallway where he captured Amelia. "Seriously? Well, I hope this will come in handy later. Maybe." Unsatisfied with the result of his curiosity, he retraces his steps to the backyard and takes the dirt path into the woods.

As he follows the path and steps into the woods, his heart begins to beat faster out of anxiety and fear. He tries to calm himself by taking deep breaths, but it does not quell the shaking of his knees. After a couple of minutes of walking, he finds a wrought iron gate blocking his path; behind it looms a church, its spire piercing the tree line. Luigi takes out the Dual Scream and takes a picture of the church then sends it to Gadd before walking up to the gate. Upon closer inspection, he can see that the lock has rusted and deteriorated thus the gate is open and unlocked. After taking a calming breath, Luigi reaches out a shaky hand to push open the gate. Before he reaches it, the gate swings open with a rusty squeal followed by a shrill chuckle. The plumber gulps nervously as he clinches his fists and eyes shut. "Not funny," he mutters through clinched teeth, trying to not let them get under his skin. After another deep breath, he walks through the gate and up to the church. He finds the door unlocked and steps inside.

The door creaks as it closes behind the plumber and booms as it shuts completely. He takes out his flashlight, as the church is pitch black; not even the moonlight can filter in as the stained glass windows are covered with vines on the exterior. Sweeping his light from side to side, Luigi can see that the large room has three columns of pews laid out before him. He takes a couple of steps down the aisle then stops suddenly when he hears a voice.

"Luigi! Turn back it's a trap! Don't come any closer," Mario muffled voice pleads.

"Mario?" The young plumber frantically shines his flashlight from side to side searching for the source of his brother's voice. In front of the middle column of pews, he sees a clearing and heads toward it. A couple of the pews have been removed and at the edge of the stage, where the preacher's alter generally stands, is an easel with a portrait on it. It is Mario, stuck inside a painting as Luigi has found him before.

"Bro no!"

As the younger Mario Brother runs up to the portrait, a ring of candles light up, surrounding them. Luigi's guard goes up and he grabs the end of the Poltergust, ready for battle. "Mario what's going on? Where are they?"

"Right here!" From behind Mario's painting King Boo appears with a smug grin, blue tongue hanging out. "Luigi it's nice to see you again, especially under these circumstances."

"Alright King Boo, this is between us, let Mario go," the green plumber demands.

"Let him go? I think you don't understand," King Boo retorts, "I want the set of the gullible Mario Brother paintings. Both of my adversaries locked in the same prison as I was; sweet, ironic justice."

"So the hard way once more," Luigi replies; "Alright, bring it on. I beat you once and I'll do it again." He aims the hose of the Poltergust at the spectral king.

"Not so fast plumber, unless you want your loved ones to suffer," King Boo warns. From off stage, Daisy walks in slowly holding a knife to her throat. "Holster that hose or Jezebel will slit the princess's throat."

Luigi's eyes dart over to Daisy, she is still wearing the lacey wedding dress he saw earlier. Her eyes glow yellow, a symptom of Jezebel's control over her. He inhales sharply as he darts between his girlfriend and brother; the fear for their safety weighs heavier and heavier on his mind by the second.

"I mean it plumber," King Boo warns a second time. "Put away that infernal hose or watch as Jezebel kills your precious brunette." Luigi places the hose back into its holster and lifts his arms up slowly, showing that he is unarmed. "Good, good, smart plumber; now let us go on a field trip." The spectral king motions to Jezebel and quickly she is behind Luigi, holding the knife to his throat. "I assume there will be no objections," King Boo quips then picks up the portrait from the stand and escorts everyone outside.

The phantom monarch leads the group to a small graveyard behind the church. They weave their way to the very back of the graveyard. King Boo points to a large gravestone with the name William Bogsworth III engraved in large print. He leans Mario's painting up against a grave across from the one Luigi is by. The royal boo then turns and addresses the younger plumber, "Drop the vacuum and back to the tombstone." Luigi complies. "Arms out and don't move," with a flick of his stubby arms dark vinesbind Luigi to the tombstone. The chain wraps around his wrists and ankles preventing him from moving. "That's better, now we can start the fun," the monarch boasts with a smug smile. "What kind of frame would you like plumber? One to match your brother's or perhaps an oval would suit you better?" Luigi does not answer, which causes the crowned boo to chuckle. "Aww not in the mood to choose? That's okay, I'll choose for you." Out from behind a gravestone, King Boo pulls out a rectangular dark wood frame. "I'd like my Mario Brother portraits to match anyway." He turns to Mario, "Don't you think it would be nice for you to match your brother hmm?"

"Doesn't really matter, all I know is you talk too much," Mario answers curtly.

"You are right Mario we should just get to the action shouldn't we," King Boo sets down the frame and turns to Luigi. "The first step in portraitization is making the materials malleable," he grins with teeth sharply gleaming then turns back to Mario. "Please do enjoy the show, I made sure you had the best seat in the house." The specter turns back around and floats toward Luigi.

"Leave him alone, don't touch him," Mario demands with no success as he is ignored. Luigi struggles against his restraints as the phantom king comes closer.


	11. Torture

**Chapter 11- Torture**

First, King Boo paralyzes the younger Mario Brother with his blue tongue. Upon contact, Luigi screams in pain. His nerves feel like lava has replaced his blood and is scorching him from the inside out. The phantom monarch continues to subject Luigi to this pain for several minutes, grinning evilly as he enjoys watching his nemesis scream and wriggle in pain. The boo halts his tongue lashing on the green clad man and turns to the red clad man trapped in the painting. He can see tears streaming down the older brother's cheeks even though they are squeezed shut, to block out the visual of Luigi in pain. "My we haven't even gotten that far and you already have your eyes shut like a child watching a horror movie. How are you going to enjoy the show when you can't even see?"

"Fuck you Boo," Mario spats, his voice full of hatred and spite.

"Heh, well then I guess I will just continue," the royal specter smugly replies. With a chuckle he turns back to the younger brother and continues on with his tongue torture until he becomes bored; then he decides to switch tactics. King Boo sinks his teeth into Luigi's arm, drawing no blood, but inflicting a greater deal of pain.

The green clad plumber screams with a higher pitch as the bite delivers a more potent dose of the poison found on the boo's tongue. Luigi's vision goes white as the pain overrides all of his sensory systems. After a minute of gnawing on the plumber's arm, the phantom monarch releases his grip. Even after the teeth are removed though, Luigi still whimpers in pain with eyes clinched shut and teeth gritted.

"Ah now that was satisfying," King Boo smugly grins as he licks his lips and teeth.

"I do believe he is malleable now," Jezebel impatiently observes, hinting to moving the process along.

"I agree dear, but I am just having too much fun," the boo admits.

"I see; I just wish to see these thorns taken out of our sides as soon as possible. But if you insist on more 'fun', then why not practice what I have taught you," she suggests.

"Excellent idea," King Boo agrees. "What better host to practice on than my greatest foe?" The ghostly monarch looks back to Mario, "Wait until you see this little trick, it's a show stopper!" The specter turns his attention back to the little brother. "First distract the senses," he bites down on Luigi's arm again. The plumber screams and strains against his bonds then King Boo makes his move. His bulbous white body fades slightly and collides with the plumber's body. The boo continues to fade in and out while disappearing into the plumber, as if Luigi was devouring the boo. Once King Boo completely disappears from sight, Luigi slumps forward no longer reacting to pain or any other stimuli.

"Luigi? Bro are you alright," Mario asks worried. The younger brother raises his head up and meets Mario's eyes. The older brother gasps at the sight of red glowing eyes staring back at him.

"Why I feel great how about you bro?" King Boo's voice comes out of Luigi's mouth.

"You sick son of a bitch," Mario barks. "First you torture him then possess him and take away his free will? He did nothing to you or that demon bitch back there to deserve that!"

"My, my, such language," the possessed plumber playfully scolds; "that's not being a very good role model for the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom, who all hold you in such high regard." He turns to Jezebel, "I thought you said this would be difficult. This is surprising easy."

"Usually it takes time to perfect," Jezebel notes, irritation in her voice. "Of course, I guess you are just a natural. Maybe we should move on?"

"Well I think its time for some more fun," Luigi/King Boo grins ignoring Jezebel's suggestion, then suddenly the plumber slumps over once more. After a few seconds his head rises and he blinks numerous times, his blue eyes visible.

"What happened? Mario?" The younger brother looks to his older brother confused.

"It's going to be okay Luigi," Mario chokes out, trying to be positive although he is unsure of this evening's outcome.

"Where's King Boo," Luigi asks then suddenly his eyes bulge and it becomes hard to breathe. He starts to have a seizure; his body is shaking out of control.

"Luigi! Luigi! Shit, no…Luigi!" His brother cries out, scared. "At least give him a stick or something to bite on so he doesn't bite off his tongue!"

The green clad plumber tries to respond to let Mario know he is okay, but cannot. His mind races trying to regain control most specifically control of his neck muscles, as he fears his head banging against the tombstone could cause massive damage. After what feels like an eternity, his body stops seizing and he is able to take a deep breath. _What caused that? I have never had a seizure before, so why start now?_ He looks up and around, to see his brother trapped in a painting and Jezebel in Daisy's body standing next to him. _More importantly, where is King Boo?_

 _"I'm right here plumber."_

He hears the boo, but not with his ears; seems like a thought. He looks around confused gaining notice from his worried brother.

"Luigi what is it?"

"Voices," the younger brother answers, "I'm hearing voices Mario. Am I going crazy?"

Jezebel laughs, "No, not crazy plumber, possessed."

 _"That's right Luigi, it's me inside your head,"_ King Boo gloats. Suddenly Luigi convulses, a sharp pain in his chest causes him to wheeze. _"Enjoy the ride."_

The pain starts immediately like light from the flip of a light switch. It feels like razor blades have replaced his red blood cells and are ripping through his entire body. Each beat of his heart feels as if daggers are inserted and removed with each cycle. His stomach and intestines are towels being wrung out by hand, twisted into a tight ball and the pressure never released. His lungs are on fire as if he were drowning, no matter the amount of oxygen, it still feels like its not enough. His head feels like it's being beat on by a sledgehammer, unable to hold onto another thought other than the pain.

"STOP IT! Stop it! God let him be," Mario sobs unable to hold back anymore and listen to the screams anymore.

Luigi stops screaming, goes limp then raises his head once more, eyes glowing red. "Aw, isn't that sweet? The older sibling begging for me to spare the younger," King Boo mocks.

"Please just stop, kill me instead; just please stop torturing him," the red clad plumber pleads.

"You just don't listen do you? Death is not in the cards Mario," King Boo reminds.

"Then spare him the pain, he will no doubly be able to put into a portrait by now, so why continue?"

"Because you both have to have to pay for what you have done, not just to me," King Boo answers with a grin.

"But to me," Jezebel replies.

"We did nothing to you," Mario snarls.

"The Shadow Queen, does she sound familiar? Of course she does, that was my mentor and my sister, tart."

"She took over Peach and was going to destroy the world; she left me no choice," Mario defends quickly as the motives now start to make sense.

"As you leave us no choice now," Jezebel/Daisy turns to Luigi and addresses King Boo, "Continue."

"NO!"

Luigi slumps forward once more, red eyes disappear, and his blue eyes become visible again.

"Luigi, I'm sorry; hold on," Mario warns with tears.

"Sorry? You did nothing wro-" Luigi stops mid-sentence as the pain resurfaces. His eyes slam shut and he screams once more.

"God, stop this please," Mario softly prays; "neither of us can take much more."

After five more minutes of the green clad man's screaming and torment, he slumps forward and King Boo exits his body. "That was quite exhilarating," the ghost smiles proudly.

"Yeah exhilarating," Mario growls. "Now you've had your fun, let him go."

"Now we have discussed this, that is not going to happen; however I did think about that mishap you had earlier. I have to say the idea of keeping you as a trophy and killing your menacing brother is very, very appealing…" King Boo grins widely.

"NO! No, kill me," Mario pleads. "I'm the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, dozens of people want me dead! You could have the honor of being the one who dispatched Mario!"

"As tempting as that sounds, I would rather you remember me and curse my name, as you feel that large void in your life. The void of losing your brother and being haunted by the memory of watching him die by the hands of his love and unable to do a damn thing about it," King Boo describes, licking his lips enjoying the sweet irony.

"You sick son of a bitch," Mario exclaims.

"Quite, ain't it marvelous," the royal specter replies then turns to Jezebel. "Would you do the honors my dear?"

"Gladly," she purrs. She stands in front of Luigi but turns her head around to speak to Mario. "This is for ruining my family, now I will ruin yours!" Jezebel/Daisy turns back to Luigi and clamps her hands around his throat. "Die vermin, die," she hisses as she squeezes tighter.

King Boo relaxes the vines, letting Luigi grab onto Jezebel's wrists in a futile attempt to pry to them loose. Luigi struggles to take a breath, but still tries to speak. His sentence comes out mumbled, not understandable.

"Did you have any final words," she sneers. "Well how unfortunate for you, that you will not have the opportunity to speak them!"

She increases the pressure causing Luigi to turn red and slightly purple. Just as his world is going black, Jezebel lets up on the pressure and he sucks precious air into his lungs. _Oh thank God, sweet air. Wait what the? She had me; what is she doing?_ Jezebel slinks back, holding her sides in pain. _Well if she is going to be distracted, lets see what we can do about these vines._ He uses the slack given to him and grabs a small knife out of his pocket and hacks at the vines discretely.

The female demon turns around to see King Boo with a small box. Her eyes widen in fear, as the maple box and its contents are very familiar to her. "What is that," she asks playing ignorant.

"I think you know quite well what this is my dear," King Boo notes. "Now, I am afraid your usefulness is over," the royal boo places his arm onto of the box preparing to open it. "I will give you the chance to leave now, since you were helpful, but if you do not leave I will be forced to use this."

"You cannot dismiss me like some indentured servant," Jezebel yells. "If it were not for my assistance you would never have even caught these mortals. You are indebted to me!"

"Again, you have been useful, but you really didn't think I was going to let you kill my arch nemesis did you? He is destined for a painting not for death and the deed will be done at my hand not yours. So once more, your services are no longer required my dear and you are free to go as my payment for your help. Don't take my offer lightly," the monarch specter warns.

"HA," Jezebel laughs. "You think a little jewelry chest is going to scare me; or you, for that fact, a pathetic, self-appointed king of ghosts? You will pay for your treachery!" She lunges at the boo with her purple spindle fingers outstretched. Before she makes contact, King Boo swings his arm forward and a swarm of boos rush out from behind him and attack Jezebel; holding her down. King Boo floats over to her and opens the chest to reveal a dark purple gem in the shape of a star. "NO! NOT THAT," Jezebel tries desperately to claw away from the chest, but as if she is being sucked in by a maelstrom she is pulled out of Daisy's body and into the gem.

After Jezebel is captured, King Boo shuts the chest. "Stupid girl, I did my research and this wonderful amethyst star was the key to sealing her away just like her sister was. Contingency plans are a must when it comes to teamwork, you never can trust anyone you know. Now where were we?" He turns his attention to the green clad plumber, who is not only free, but has also regained the Poltergust 5000. "Infernal machine! I should have had you drop it at the church!"

"Its just you and me now King Boo," Luigi declares, determination set in his eyes.

"Not quite plumber, not quite," the phantom monarch informs. "We still have your brother." The specter grabs the painting and flees into the graveyard.

"Mario!" Luigi chases after the large boo through the front of the graveyard and into the woods, where the specter disappears from sight. Fog has rolled into the woods, covering it in a thick fluffy looking blanket of smoke, making it impossible to see very far ahead.

"Are you looking for him," King Boo's voice comes from above. Luigi turns his head to the sky to see the phantom monarch hovering in a tree up high, dangling the Mario's portrait above him. "So high up, I'm sure the landing would crack the frame and rip the picture inside," the royal boo hypothesizes. "Behave and surrender nicely Luigi or your brother takes the plunge," he threatens.

"Don't do it Luigi! You've got him on the run," Mario orders.

"No surrender," Luigi replies, following Mario's orders.

"Your call," King Boo shrugs. "Good-bye Mario!" He flings the painting over Luigi's head.

Quickly Luigi turns about face and chases after the flying portrait. Luckily, King Boo did not fling it too far, so Luigi is able to catch up to it. As it drops in altitude to about ten feet above ground, the younger Mario Brother whips out the Poltergust hose and reels in the portrait without it touching the ground or damaging it. "Mario," Luigi sighs in relief, "you're safe finally. Now where can I put you so you stay that way?"

"I don't know, but I hope you kick that boo's ass," Mario sighs. "I am tired and ready to get out of here."

"Agreed, I will try to make it speedy," Luigi promises as he tucks Mario under his arm and heads back to the church. He stows Mario among the pews once more "I will be back bro, just hang on."

"Good luck Bro," Mario encourages.

Reluctantly Luigi leaves the church and returns to the graveyard. A chill shimmies up his spine as he steps back into the graveyard. Suddenly he hears what sounds like electricity crackling close by and getting louder. Quickly he ducks behind a tombstone, the purple ball of electricity collides and disperses on the stone's surface, cracking it.

"It is just us now Luigi," King Boo mocks. "Come on out and play," the phantom monarch cackles as he throws three electric spheres at Luigi.

The plumber is able to dodge out of the way of all the spheres, but watches as they obliterate the tombstone. _Geesh that was close,_ Luigi thinks as he hides behind another tombstone, noticing a chunk of the broken tombstone by his hand. He peers over the square stone to see King Boo scanning the environment, then the boo locks eyes with the plumber.

"You can't hide forever plumber," King Boo informs as he throws an electric ball the size of a bowling ball at the Mario Brother. Luigi rolls back to the broken tombstone just before the second one crumbles from the force of the electric sphere. "I will destroy every gravestone if necessary, but you will fall at my hands plumber!" The phantom monarch continues to rain the purple electric spheres toward Luigi. From behind a tombstone the green clad man steps out and faces the boo. "Ah are we going to surrender," King Boo asks triumphantly.

"No," Luigi answers simply. "I'm just done running. Bring it on you chirpy, pathetic excuse of a boo," he challenges.

King Boo laughs at the plumber's attempt of courage with his blue tongue wagging. "If you insist," the royal boo shoots another bowling ball sized electric sphere toward the plumber.

 _I hope this works,_ the younger Mario Brother prays as he watches the purple sphere rocket closer to him. When it reaches a few feet in front of him, Luigi whips out the Poltergust 5000 and sucks the ball inside then switches the Poltergust into reverse, aims at King Boo and fires the sphere back at the spectral king. As the purple electricity collides with the King Boo, it envelops him causing him to screech in pain and float backwards, covering his eyes. Luigi takes the opportunity and runs forward with the Poltergust, turning it onto King Boo. The phantom is caught in the gusting vortex, panicking he chirps as he fights, but loses strength as he does. Suddenly a purple ring of electricity springs out from the boo and grows like the ripple of a raindrop splashing into a still pond. Luigi hits the deck, losing his control of the Poltergust and King Boo. As he pushes himself off the ground, the younger Mario Brother watches as King Boo retreats twenty feet away then turns back to face him.

"You think you're so clever! Well, not clever enough!" The phantom monarch throws open his stubby arms and from seeming nowhere, ten boos appear in a circle around him. "I am King Boo, heed my call and attack," he commands as he vanishes from sight. With cheeky laughter the boos fan out to swarm the plumber.

Luigi dives behind a tombstone out of sight causing the boos to spread out to search for him. The green clad man tucks himself into as small of a ball as possible behind the stone with the Poltergust in hand. The hair on his arms stand on edge as he feels the air become colder; the boos approach. He tries to breathe shallowly, quietly to not give his position away. At the end of the row of grave markers the first boo appears; he breathes in sharply in anxiety then watches as the others appear. All of them pass by, missing him. He cautiously stands up with the Poltergust poised, ready for battle.

"Behind you fools," King Boo bellows as he spots his nemesis.

Only one is able to turn around and become transparent before Luigi turns on the Poltergust. The slow remaining nine boos are caught in the vortex of E. Gadd's invention. The struggle against the current, but grow weak as they try. Luigi struggles to keep all nine in the vortex as they squirm in every direction. Three of the boos escape while the other six are sucked into the vacuum. The three escapees join the other free boo and turn transparent, vanishing into thin air.

"Damn it," the younger Mario Brother curses as he loses the four boos. _I didn't want to test my reflexes like this,_ he sighs as he turns around and closes his eyes. He waits for the chill to begin to crawl across his skin, for the quiet snickering to slowly fill his ears and creep into his subconscious. As soon as it does he turns around and switches on the Poltergust. The boos screech in panic as they try to escape, but they fail and are encased into the Poltergust's chamber. The plumber sighs in relief then turns around to find himself face-to-face with King Boo. He yelps in surprise and falls backward as he tries to back away from the phantom monarch. The royal boo wraps his tongue around Luigi's forearm setting the plumber's nerves ablaze then the specter sinks his teeth into the younger Mario Brother's flesh. Luigi howls in pain, tears stream form the corners of his eyes. Quickly he grabs his flashlight and shines it into the boo's eyes which causes King Boo to release him.

King Boo retreats back to conjure more electric spheres to rain down upon the plumber. He creates twice as many and is able to hit the plumber in the leg causing him to slow and limp. The spectral king then targets a large tombstone behind Luigi and shoots several spheres at it until it crumbles; the pieces plummet toward the plumber and several strike him, pinning him to the ground. King Boo snickers gleefully as he floats over to the pinned plumber. "Aww, the poor little plumber is trapped! Tell me, are you scared," King Boo asks, relishing in the moment.

Luigi does not answer and continues to struggle to get his foot out from beneath the tombstone.

"You should be!" The boo licks the younger Mario Brother, sending Luigi flopping on the ground, temporarily stunned. "Now my dear nemesis die!" King Boo grabs the back of Luigi's neck, electrifying every nerve through his spinal cord.

His entire body feels like it is on fire as if he is being burned alive from inside. His breathing becomes shallow and almost non-existent from the intensity of the pain. Despite the pain, he reaches for the hose of the Poltergust and switches it on, surprising King Boo.

King Boo shrieks as the Poltergust switches on and the vortex appears. Frantically he releases his hold on the green clad man and flees. The royal specter escapes, barely and retreats into the foggy night. _That was far too close for comfort. Damn plumber,_ King Boo curses. With tongue hanging out he pants, _Too weak for another direct confrontation, but I cannot leave it up to my subjects; they seem to be ineffective against him. Argh, if only I had my Bowser suit! It was offense and defense in one package! A sword and a,_ he pauses a second as an idea strikes. _Shield,_ he smirks with a devious toothy grin. _Perfect._


	12. So Close Yet

**Chapter 12- So Close Yet…**

Luigi treads carefully deeper into the graveyard; his senses on high alert to detect any sign of King Boo's whereabouts. Suddenly twenty feet ahead he spots a large purple orb and he heads toward it, slightly faster but still favoring his leg. Halfway there, numerous cheeky chuckles stop him in his tracks and the purple orb vanishes from sight. _What the,_ he sighs irritated.

"You didn't think catching King Boo would be that easy did you," a chirpy voice asks bluntly.

Luigi turns around with flashlight in hand to find a single boo floating there. He grabs the Poltergust and aims at the boo, who quickly vanishes with a snarky snicker. Luigi grimaces vexed and slightly disturbed. Suddenly the boo returns, with reinforcements; that form a ring around him like wolves circling a wounded deer preparing to finish it off. He shines his flashlight at one of the boos and switches on the strobe. The pulsing light causes the boo to cover its face and turn opaque. Luigi dives under the faded boo skidding a foot out of the circle, the flips over, grabs the Poltergust and switches it on. The boos are taken by surprise and try to scatter. He only catches two of them into the Poltergust; the other five escape into the night.

"Drat," he stands and dusts himself off. "Now I've got those five along with King Boo," he sighs as he holsters the hose onto the vacuum. _Quite frankly I don't know how much more of this I can take,_ Luigi worries. _My leg, heck my whole body is killing me. I just want to go home and sleep for a week._ He turns to look back into the cemetery, where something, walking in the fog grabs his attention. He walks toward the silhouette until he spots Daisy shaking off the cobwebs and shakily bringing herself to her feet. "Daisy," he calls out to her, his voice reflecting a mixture of emotions: relief, happiness, and guilt. Favoring his leg, he shuffles over to the Sasaraland princess and helps her up, "Daisy, I'm glad you're okay," he notes relieved as he grabs her hand. "King Boo's still on the loose, so we need to get you somewhere safe. Head to the chapel over by the gate, I've got Mario hidden there too, you guys should be safe," the green clad plumber reassures. He raises his eyes from her hand to her face, but she turned away from him. "Daisy, are you alright?"

A malicious smirk creeps across her face then suddenly she throws her head back and the high-pitched chortle of King Boo erupts from her lips.

"No," he lets go of her hand and steps back, away from her. "No, dammit, no," he cries angrily as tears fill his eyes.

"Oh yes plumber," King Boo's red eyes glow through Daisy's blue irises. "Finally," King Boo notes as he/she grabs Luigi's arm and draws him closer. King Boo's distinctive cackle escapes her lips, "At last I will see you trapped in a portrait prison!"

"Fine you win King Boo, I will go quietly but let her go. She has nothing to do with this," Luigi pleads.

King Boo's hearty cackle erupts once more, "She is affiliated with you that is all it takes to be involved. She has been the key to bringing you down after all," the phantom monarch uses the princess's hand to poke the Mario Brother in the chest for emphasis. "Take comfort in the fact that after you settle into your portrait, hers will hang right next to yours," the boo's vicious smile creeps across Daisy's face.

"No, you can't do that," Luigi cries desperately.

"Oh yes I can," King Boo retorts. "I will have all three of you lined up in a row in my throne room. First Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, then you Luigi, the brother of the great Mario and royal pain in my ass, and finally Princess Daisy Floral, the only heir to the throne of Sasaraland. It will be magnificent," the specter gloats.

"You son of a bitch," the plumber's voice turns from desperation to anger. "It will be over my dead body that you get all three of us."

"That could be arranged," Daisy's other hand claps his other arm like a vise; "but first let's go grab your brother and continue what we were doing earlier shall we?" The possessed princess pushes Luigi toward the church and forces him forward.

"And if I refuse," Luigi retorts as he stops briefly.

"Remember what I did to while I possessed you? I can end her here and now," King Boo threatens with Daisy's voice.

Reluctantly, Luigi begins to shuffle toward the church, mentally kicking himself along the way for revealing Mario's location. _Stupid, stupid, stupid! He's got me cornered, dead to rights and I have nothing left to get out of it. I'm so tired and sore,_ he sighs dejectedly.

"No dragging your feet plumber," King Boo teases. "There is no prolonging the inevitable." He chuckles and pushes the plumber causing him to stumble. After a few more yards, they reach the chapel and walk inside. "Oh Mario? Mario? Where are you hiding," the royal boo calls out using Daisy's voice. "Guess he won't answer me, point him out," King Boo demands. Luigi points into the pews and King Boo finds Mario's portrait rather quickly in the third row. "Ah Mario, we meet again," the phantom monarch greets pompously. "We are going on a field trip to the cellar so your brother can join you in portrait hell, care to tag along?"

Mario's heart sinks as the possessed princess picks him up to tote him away. _What happened? This can't be how all of this ends with Luigi and I as trophies on King Boo's wall! Not to mention what will he do with Daisy once he is done with us? There is no way he will let her go to go get help. Poor Weegie, he must be devastated seeing his nemesis controlling her like a puppet. Reminds me of the time the Shadow Queen had Peach. Oh Peach, I am so sorry. I miss you and I really hope we can get out of this._

King Boo leads the brothers back outside and around to the side of the chapel to a storm cellar door. "Open the door plumber," the phantom monarch demands Luigi; the green clad man complies then the possessed princess leads the group down the narrow stairs. As they descend, candles at the bottom of the stairs ignite to illuminate the room. The cellar is cold, dusty, and musky in the center of the room is a wooden table with cranks on each end, a medieval rack. Luigi gulps causing the possessed princess to smile maliciously. "Alright plumber drop the damn vacuum and get on the table," King Boo commands as Daisy's hand points to the rack. Reluctantly, Luigi complies by shedding the Poltergust 5000 and sliding onto the table. After hanging Mario's portrait up on the wall in view of the rack, King Boo turns back to the table and ties Luigi's hands and wrists to the corners of the rack. "Perfect," King Boo cackles. "Now for more fun."

"What is this King Boo," Mario demands. "You didn't do this to me."

"No I didn't," King Boo agrees as he steps over to the crank over Luigi's head, "because you didn't need it. I despise you, but not enough for this; your brother however is a different story." The phantom monarch uses the princess's hands to turn the crank, causing to the ropes to pull taunt and stretch the younger plumber.

Luigi gasps as the rack stretches him slightly.

"I hate your brother, so this torture is reserved just for him while you get to watch for your torture," King Boo smirks and again uses Daisy's hands to crank the wheels.

The younger Mario Brother cries out as the pressure grows.

"How does it feels," King Boo snarls as he turns his attention from the older brother to the younger. "This is only a taste of what I and all my fellow specters go through when you shoop, shoop us up into that infernal vacuum of yours. Then we get spun in a washing machine, pressed, shocked, baked, and pressed again into a frame. "I want you to experience what we do, so lets begin." He bends down, grabs a bucket from underneath the table, and brings up the bucket with the princess's hands. "First off, enjoy that!"

The water in the bucket is flung upon the plumber soaking him. It is ice cold causing Luigi to gasp with the temperature fluctuation then chatter his teeth and shiver as the cold seems to seep down to his bones.

"I might not be able to spin you, but I almost forgot how easily you humans are affected by temperature; that will do," King Boo's smirk reflects in Daisy's smirk. "Now for pressing," the princess disappears from the green plumber's sight, rummaging in what looks like a storage closet. "That should do," she comes out dragging a box. "Damn weak human arms, come on!" Finally the box is dragged over to the table, "So since your princess can't seem to lift all these at once; we will have to do this gradually." Out of the box, King Boo grabs a couple of books and places them on Luigi's chest continually until he hears the plumber struggling for breath.

"This is just stupid," Mario jests from the wall.

"Stupid!" King Boo spins from the tied plumber to address the plumber in the frame. "Stupid, to make the captor of ghosts feel what his deeds do? Stupid, to make an example out of you two's ignorance? No Mario, what is stupid is you not understanding!"

"You have dragged this out for your own pleasure; don't try to feed that self-righteous crap to me, I know better," Mario hisses. "You just get your jollies out of hurting us. You are no better than all the other villains that I have faced and defeated; self-absorbed and pathetic."

As Mario is arguing with King Boo, Luigi flops his head to the side and looks over to the rope holding his right arm. The rope was soaked by the ice water King Boo poured on him and the rope is frayed below the knot above his hand. _It's already in tension, but maybe if I increase the tension I can snap it._ The plumber keeps flexing his arm with heavy labored breaths, pulling on the rope, until his King Boo grabs his attention.

"I don't have to stand here and listen to you; if I remember correctly I am the one with the upper hand, so to speak. Now then," King Boo turns back to Luigi who stops his stretching to stir no suspicion. "Out of breath?"

"Isn't that what you wanted," Luigi retorts raspy.

The possessed princess's head cranes back as King Boo's cackle escapes her lips, "Yes it is. So now, how about some shock therapy?" Daisy disappears once more into the closet, "Where is that battery?"

Luigi looks over to Mario as he strains against the rope. "What are you doing," Mario mouths as he notices the strain on his brother's face.

"The rope is weak," the younger brother mouths back; "Distract him."

Mario nods, "Having trouble in there? You know for your master opus here, you certainly have misplaced all your props."

"They are not misplaced you red clad oaf, just hard to reach," King Boo shoots back. "Ah here we go!" The possessed princess comes out with a generator battery.

Mario snickers.

"What," King Boo asks sharply.

"How do you plan on using that?"

"I am not stupid plumber, I am going to use these cables…Shit," King Boo swears as he notices he is missing the cables. "Stop snickering, they are probably just still in the closet," the phantom possessed princess disappears once more in the closet.

Mario turns back to his brother. "Well?"

"Almost," Luigi mouths and with one more tug the rope finally gives way, freeing his hand. Quickly, he unties his other hand then moves to his feet.

"Think you are so smart, stupid plumbers! I thought of everything…wait what? No!" King Boo exclaims as he notices his captive escaping. The possessed princess drops the cables and dashes over to the table.

Luigi is able to finish untying his feet, but unable to get off the table as Daisy jumps on him and wraps her hands around the plumber's throat.

"If you will not cooperate and become a painting then you will die," the phantom hisses through Daisy's lips.

Luigi does not reply as the life is being choked out of him. He tries to pry the princess's hands from his throat, but to no avail. After realizing that she is too strong in their current situation, the younger Mario Brother uses his body weight and rolls off the table, taking her down to the floor with him. The impact of the fall breaks the boo's concentration allowing Luigi to grab the possessed princess's wrists, pry her hands from his throat, and pin her to the ground. "Let her go," he growls.

"Are you serious," King Boo asks with a cackle. "Wow, how naïve and gullible you are. I have stumbled upon your Achilles heel and you think I am just going to give her up? Ha foolish plumber, I will continue to hold onto her just so I can enjoy your delicious strife and guilt; and there is nothing you can do to pry me away. You may save your brother this day, but you will never save your precious princess."

"No, you have to let her go," the plumber growls, but begins to break down. "Let her go," his eyes begin to tear up.

"Aww, is the little plumber going to cry? Ha, how pathetic," King Boo jests.

Luigi pushes down harder on the possessed princess's wrists, not wanting King Boo to take advantage of his emotional state. He looks into Daisy's eyes; her irises glow red as King Boo is in control, adding to Luigi's sadness. _I miss those ocean blue eyes, with that spark of rebellion in the corner; always making me think she is up to something,_ the plumber thinks as a tear escapes the corner of his eye.

"Does it feel hopeless? Good," King Boo snickers.

"Shut up, Boo," Mario yells from the wall. "Luigi don't let him up! We'll think of something."

"Oh really? Well, the clock is ticking dear heroes remember one thought and she's dead," the phantom monarch snickers.

Memories of their time together flashes in Luigi's mind; all the sports that have partaken together, such as when they caddied for each other in golf or won the lightning cup in the doubles tennis tournament. _Good times. I can't leave her like this;_ he looks again to those glowing red irises; _Especially under his control._ He breaks eye contact and his gaze lands on her mouth.

"If you wish for her to live I would suggest that you move plumber," King Boo advises. "It would be better to live in painting than be responsible for her death no?"

"Don't listen to him Weegie! We got him on the ropes, there is no way he'll kill her," Mario counters.

"You really want to test me," King Boo challenges; "I am sure you wouldn't risk it if it were your dear Princess Toadstool."

"See Luigi, he is trying to tear us apart! Don't listen," Mario pleads.

 _I wonder._ The younger Mario Brother looks up to Mario on the wall, pounding and pleading with the Poltergust 5000 sitting below him. He focuses back onto the possessed princess; the royal boo's smirk on her lips.

"You know what I say is true Luigi," King Boo appeals. "Your brother is selfish. If he can get out then all the better; no matter the cost, even if it means your dear princess. If it came down to you and his princess though, you know whom he would choose; she isn't here."

"You liar!" Mario snarls, "Luigi I would never, you know that! Family is all we got!"

"Oh sure back-pedal, all you have done is delay the inevitable," the phantom monarch replies.

Luigi watches as the words spell out of the possessed princess's lips. _Oh why me,_ he ponders studying her chapped, full lips. _I can't believe I am going to do this, its nuts._ _I hope Mario understands when this ends._ "King Boo is right, all you have done is delay the inevitable end," the younger Mario Brother notes disgusted. "I know what I have to do."

"Luigi don't," Mario begs. "I know we have had our differences, but don't."

"Go ahead plumber," Boo smirks with Daisy's lips.

 _This better work,_ the younger plumber sighs. _Just remember, its Daisy,_ Luigi mentally preps himself.

"Bro you can't do this," Mario beseeches once more. "Think of what Mama and Papa would say…"

"I got to, don't talk me out of it," Luigi stammers. _Please this is already hard enough, not to mention embarrassing…_

"But it spells our end! Is that what you want," Mario cries.

"Oh what are you waiting for hurry up and do it already," King Boo huffs; "Or I'll end it and…" King Boo is cut short as Luigi plants his lips on Daisy's. The possessed princess screams in protest, but is muffled. She tries to kick him, but since he is sitting on her stomach he is out of reach.

Unable to take anymore, King Boo abandons Daisy's body, rising out of her chest like vapor from a boiling pot of water. "Blah, bleck, ek, argh," King Boo spits as he rapidly wipes at his blue tongue with his stubby arms. "What the hell is wrong with you? What kind of nemesis smooches the other? Only a fucking freak that's who," the phantom monarch rants. The royal apparition turns toward his enemy to find Luigi poised with the Poltergust ready to strike. "Shit." The vacuum switches on and the vortex begins to suck him in. "No! No, I can't be defeated like this when I was so close!" King Boo struggles vigorously and sporadically, dragging Luigi all over the room until finally the phantom's strength gives out. "This is not the end Luigi! No painting can hold me forever, I will be back," he vows as he disappears into the vacuum.

The green clad man drops the vacuum as soon as King Boo is trapped inside and kneels beside Daisy. He cradles her face in his hands, "Daisy? Daisy, are you in there?" She slowly begins to stir then opens her eyes; they are blue once more, to Luigi's relief.

"Luigi? Where are we," she asks confused.

"Well," Luigi begins, but is interrupted by her gasping.

"Wait," Daisy's eyes tear up as she remembers and looks at the younger Mario Brother. "Oh God, Luigi I am so sorry!" She sits up and embraces him, "All those things I did to you," she cries. "You could have died!"

"It wasn't your fault," Luigi reassures. "You were being controlled; you had no say in what was going to happen."

"Yes, but none of it would have happened if I had not got caught in the first place," the Sasaraland princess blurts. "I came to make sure you were alright or needed help and instead I get caught and used against you. I feel like a pathetic, useless, damsel in distress."

"You are anything, but that Daisy," Luigi reassures. "How many princesses would charge into a haunted house to help defeat a gaggle of ghosts? Not many. Besides, I'm really glad you're here," he admits. "I love you," he whispers in her ear.

"I love you too," she squeezes him harder and they hold each other for a moment, savoring it.

"Ahem, excuse me guys could we um, save this for later," Mario interjects uncomfortably.

"Oh right, sorry" Luigi blushes and begins to get up, but is pulled back down by the arm.

"Not yet," Daisy retorts to Mario as she pulls the younger plumber back down onto the ground then grabs his face in her hands. "I'm not done yet," she pulls his face to hers. "I think a proper thank you is in order," she whispers to him then gently places her lips onto his. She feels him freeze in shock and the heat coming off his face as his blush deepens, but soon he relaxes and his hands wrap around her sides. She is tempted to go deeper and slip her tongue into his mouth, but they do need to get out of the basement and as far away from this place as possible. She pulls away from him, ending with a light bite on his lower lip. "I think its time to get going," she suggests softly.

"Uh huh," Luigi mummers, dazed.

"I couldn't say it better myself now that I have lost my lunch," Mario notes, irked and slightly disgusted.

Luigi snaps back into reality and his face turns a maroon red as he stands and grabs Mario's painting off the wall. "Sorry bro," he apologizes embarrassed.

"Uh huh, you two are worse than teenagers," Mario teases. "Now how about some freedom? This frame is kind of getting old."

"Right," Luigi agrees; "To the lab!" He grabs the Poltergust and slings it onto his back, then turns to Daisy and extends his hand.

"Thank you Sweetie," she thanks as she comes up to her feet. Luigi leads Daisy out of the basement with Mario in tow to E. Gadd's lab.

"I have to say I am impressed," E. Gadd notes as he takes Mario's portrait from Luigi's hands. "I wasn't sure if you were going to come back."

"Thanks I think," Luigi replies.

"I don't mean that," E. Gadd clarifies; "Its just that King Boo had everything lined up just so. He had the home field advantage and hostages. Which reminds me, how about we get Mario back out of that frame?" The group agrees and E. Gadd inserts Mario's portrait into the ghost portraitificatizer then switches it into reverse. In a matter of minutes, Mario pops out the vent.

"About time," Mario stretches; "God that feels good. Thank you Gadd," the older plumber thanks the elderly professor.

"No problem," E. Gadd replies, "but we do really need to stop meeting like this."

"Agreed," Mario concurs.

"Anyway how did you defeat King Boo Luigi," E. Gadd asks.

"Um, lets not talk about it," the green cad man blushes.

"Oh man, that was just wrong," Mario interjects. "I mean really Weegie? Isn't that a little far?"

"I didn't see you coming up with anything 'Mister We-Got-Him-on-the-Ropes'," Luigi retorts.

"Yeah that's true, but I mean you kissed him; that's just weird," Mario squirms.

E. Gadd looks at Luigi, "That's odd my boy, but how do you kiss a boo?"

"He was possessing Daisy," Luigi motions to the brunette princess; "If I didn't drive him out, he was going to kill her. I did the one thing I could think of to get him to let her go!"

"Clever, strange, but clever," E. Gadd notes.

"I do applaud your innovation, but I will not let you live it down," Mario smirks, teasing his brother.

"This is not fair," Luigi mummers in embarrassment.

"I think it was brilliant," Daisy hugs Luigi from behind. "And thanks to you, we all get to go home." Daisy kisses her boyfriend on the cheek then turns to Mario, "So how about we go back to the Mushroom Kingdom and enjoy some good food at Peach's?"

"Sounds like a plan," Mario agrees. "E. Gadd thanks again, but I think we are on our way out."

"No problem," E. Gadd bids farewell. "Luigi thank you once more," he shakes the younger plumber's hand, "Don't be a stranger."

"Will do," Luigi replies.

"Nice to meet you as well," the elderly professor shakes Daisy's hand.

"Likewise," she replies.

"She's a keeper, don't screw it up youngster," E. Gadd winks at Luigi, who blushes, then the professor chuckles. "Enjoy everyone." The three bid farewell to the elderly professor and leave Boo Woods to return to the Mushroom Kingdom.

* * *

 **Oh I love that ending, maybe its only me, but I hope you enjoyed it too. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
